2023-08-15 07:55:12
The premiere of the 1892 opera “Werther” at the Bregenz Festival was received with great enthusiasm on Monday evening. The tragic hero, well known from Goethe’s epistolary novel, is presented in Jana Vetten’s production in the Theater am Kornmarkt in a modern look and with a touch of feminism. Embedded in the impressionistic music of Jules Massenet, this results in a mixture that is as daring as it is successful.
The story of Werther is well known from Goethe’s epistolary novel. The Frenchman Jules Massenet takes up the material regarding the sensitive young man who chooses suicide because of an unfulfilled love, more than 100 years following its creation (1774) and gives the characters, of which Goethe can only be read in Werther’s letters, your own voice.
Unfortunately, the libretto has aged badly, and so in her production Jana Vetten disenchants the man who is supposedly acting out of passion and love. She shows him as a relentless narcissist who often goes following his beloved Charlotte once morest her will. Rather, it is Charlotte herself who becomes the actual protagonist. On the Kornmarkttheater stage, she is less torn between passion and the fulfillment of her duties than she simply sees herself as responsible for Werther’s suffering – which is also a kind of narcissism. Jana Vetten concentrates on the bereaved and not on the suffering youth who ends up tragically dying.
The costume selection provides accents on the stage – simple dresses in strong colors form a contrast to the simple pink of the stage design. Charlotte appears in a bright red jumpsuit and thus immediately reveals herself to be the actual main character of the play. The silhouettes of the clothes refer to the historicity of the fabric, otherwise the attempt is made to break with the time of origin and to approach the subject in a more universal way. However, the text from the 19th century, which works in the logic of earlier gender roles, repeatedly stands in the way of the project.
The real highlights of the opera evening are the fabulous music performed by the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra (conductor: Claire Levacher) and the wonderful voices of the young singers of the Festival Opera Studio. In terms of acting, the women take the upper hand. It’s Charlotte (Kady Evanyshyn) and Sophie (Sarah Shine) who not only convince with their singing, but also with their movement, facial expressions and gestures, while the main male characters (Raúl Gutiérrez as Werther and Yuriy Hadzetskyy as Albert) seem rather static on stage and move to the background. This is probably also due to the staging.
Unfortunately, in Massenet’s “Werther” you have to do without to a large extent the powerfully exuberant duets and powerful interplay of the singer ensemble. For this, the actors can set themselves in scene once more and once more. The small stage of the Kornmarkttheater, which is further narrowed by the stage design, is wonderfully suited for such intimate scenes.
Despite some discrepancies, the implementation of the classic material succeeds from a discreet feminist perspective and with a modern look. This is particularly due to the musical implementation. The main actors and in particular Claire Levacher and the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra received thunderous applause from the premiere audience for their performances.
(SERVICE – “Werther” by Jules Massenet at the Bregenz Festival. Theater am Kornmarkt. Three more performances on August 16, 18 and 19. Musical direction of the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra: Claire Levacher. With the children’s choir of the music middle school Bregenz-Stadt ( Conductor: Wolfgang Schwendinger Staging: Jana Vetten Set and costumes: Camilla Hägebarth Starring: Kady Evanyshyn (Charlotte), Raúl Gutiérrez (Werther), Yuriy Hadzetskyy (Albert), Sarah Shine (Sophie), Lucas Cortoos (Amtmann), Timothy Veryser (Schmidt) and Raoul Steffani (Johann) Info and tickets below https://bregenzerfestspiele.com/de/programm/werther.)
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