Mark Daver / Reviews

Hrólfur Sæmundsson gives a scenically intense Macbeth with a wonderfully robust baritone. Christian Tschelebiew , with his wonderfully dark bass, is an equal partner as a general. Susanne Elmark is a highly dramatic Lady Macbeth, who always tends to be slightly acrimonious. But this is quite appropriate for the role of Lady Macbeth. Diego Silva is struggling as Macduff that evening: the voice doesn't carry, has hardly any body and tends towards unpleasantly strong vibrato. Robert Maszl reliably plays Malcolm. Eyrún Unnarsdóttir as Lady Macbeth's dame and Flurin Caduff as doctor/servant/murderer/herald complete the ensemble.

Gerard Jones (director) has his production set towards the end of the 1960s in a very sympathetically no longer very fresh country residence of an English nobleman (stage: Anna Yates) play. The walls are covered almost to the ceiling with walnut paneling and the whole setting, especially Donna Raphael's magnificent costumes, exudes an English atmosphere, just like you know it from old detective films. The Count and Countess are still from the older generation, the staff, speaking of the widespread daring among the staff, had already taken part in the 1968 revolution, much to the Count's chagrin. In his highly sensitive staging, Jones closely follows the libretto and the music, and so he manages to bring Mozart's masterpiece to the stage in a refreshing, even thrilling way, much to the delight of the audience. The theoretical underlining with thoughts about the value of work, dependency and freedom ("For whom or what do I actually work?") is certainly not wrong,Marc Hostettler sets the stage in the right light with wonderful details such as the antler chandelier or the bar located behind a mock library.