Opera Reviews
29 March 2024
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Sex and violence at the heart of this trashy Don Giovanni
by Michael Sinclair
Mozart: Don Giovanni
Bavarian State Opera
31 October 2009

Photo: Wilfried HöslAn emaciated, naked man twitches in time to the music as the curtain opens on the Bavarian State Opera's new production of Don Giovanni. Soon the audience is twitching too. Director Stephan Kimmig brings a CV full of theatrical successes to this production, but this is his first foray into opera and it shows. Kimmig seems to specialise in sensory overload with scene after scene that offers little in the way of Mozartean style or elegance. Trashy Mozart somehow doesn't quite ring true.

The basic concept is reasonable enough. Katya Hass's set consists of shipping containers piled on top of each other, which rotate, gyrate and move around to create the different scenes of the opera. Don Giovanni is first seen roughing it in one of these containers, which greets us with 'Welcome to Espaiñ' scrawled on its exterior. He seems to exist on a diet of canned beer - and women, and lives in a world where sex, alcohol and debauchery are the order of the day. Being clearly cast as an outsider there is always a sense of danger throughout the production with sex and violence never too far apart. This is definitely not a Don Giovanni for children.

This ultra modern take on the story might have worked except for the fact that Kimmig and his production team have overloaded us with settings, costumes and visual gags that do little to probe the underlying story. Anja Rabes's costumes range from naked to nonsensical, while Katya Hass's settings seem intent on entertaining rather than illuminating. The production reaches its nadir with the wedding party scene that is themed as a winter wonderland complete with fake snow, stuffed penguins and ridiculous alpine costumes. And there are plenty of other oddities: stuffed toys proliferate the production, while the graveyard scene is set in an abattoir.

The frustrating thing is that there are many fine scenes too. The beginning of the second act works well where Don Giovanni and Leporello exchange clothes in a most convincing way, while the supper scene has a certain edge to it despite resembling something off Food TV. Kimmig tries far too hard to entertain us when in fact less would have been more and in the final analysis what we are given is a very course, trashy rendition of a rather elegant opera.

Photo: Wilfried HöslIf visual delights are in short order then unfortunately so are the musical ones. As if trying to upstage Kimmig's rather course production Kent Nagano has opted for an equally course interpretation of the score. He drives the orchestra hard giving us too much volume and too little style - in Nagano's hands Mozart becomes Wagner for the evening, and badly played Wagner at that.

The singers fare only moderately better, at least on the male side. Mariusz Kwiecien and Alex Esposito combine to make a lively team as Don Giovanni and Leporello, throwing themselves into this production with the commitment it requires. Together they offer some of the best singing of the evening. Pavol Breslik also takes vocal honours with his honestly sung Don Ottavio that steers clear of sugary sweetness in a most refreshing way. Levente Molnar is a suitably bumbling Masetto, while Phillip Ens adds the required gravitas as the Commendatore.

The women are less successful. Both Ellie Dehn as Donna Anna and Maija Kovalevska as Donna Elvira display little in the way of Mozartean style with their rather uneven vocal interpretations. Both sound shrill in places and neither is able to bring off their signature arias successfully. Laura Tatulescu is an adequate Zerlina.

At the end of the opera the Commendatore returns as a Catholic priest with a cohort of generals, clergy and other upstanding men. Are they trying to save Don Giovanni rather than dragging him to hell? Don Giovanni's death is therefore rather tame as he simply drops dead as the attendant masses depart without him. Finally the twitching, naked man is back again blowing on two toy windmills: is this how Don Giovanni might have become had he grown old? By this stage the audience is twitching to leave.

Text: © Michael Sinclair
Photos: © Wilfried Hösl
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