Banned plays often deal with the essentials. This is also true for Oscar Wilde’s Salomé, a cult work from the Decadent movement which was banned for years in the United Kingdom. Whilst the role of Salome is relatively small in the initial Bible story, in the hands of Oscar Wilde and Richard Strauss she becomes a character with a perfectly hybrid identity. Salome is both a child and a symbol of sexual fetish; she is both a naive and manipulable being and the triggering element of an implacable drama. Since the beginning, Strauss’ musical drama enjoyed great success; today it is still hailed as one of the great scores of modernist opera. Two years after Elektra, which earned him widespread praise, Guy Joosten now presents his version of Salome at La Monnaie. Carlo Rizzi returns to La Monnaie following his remarkable interpretation of La Bohème in 2010.