I have never understood Ivo van Hove. While his Dead Man Walking and Don Giovanni were acclaimed in New York in recent years, and his productions translate to film very well (perhaps because there’s so much camera work within them – it creates natural cuts between stage action and screen action), there’s so much emphasis on doing things ‘live’ (filming, cooking, etc) that it becomes a distraction to the artifice of live theater. It’s like working with children and animals – the audience becomes distracted by this breach of reality into the unreality.
Furthermore, the extensive video design in his productions – sometimes putting key scenes only as projections – make him an undemocratic director as the cheap seats are almost always excluded from the view of the back wall. Perhaps I don’t understand his version of theater, but I don’t understand why he wants to work against what drives the medium in the first place.
Mr. Portafiori:
I think the production of King Roger directed by Warlikowski was one of the worst I’ve ever seen. To me, it seemed like he was playing a joke on the audience, as if he was saying, “I’m going to do some incredibly stupid staging and direction and you’re gonna think it’s fabulous.” At a talk once with Kwiecien, I asked him what the direction was about and he said the performers had no idea. Also, seeing the director chewing gum at the bows is just appalling.
I do not get Calixto Bieito. I don’t understand why he keeps getting work. His productions always seem excessively violent and demeaning to women. I have only seen his Carmen and clips of other operas, but I find them disturbing.
Tell us: What was the best of 2025?
Parterre Box concludes the thrilling first year of Talk of the Town by inviting your lightning rod opinions on several more categories of operatic argumentation.
