Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg / Reviews

Teodor Currentzis s’était allié à Dmitri Tcherniakov pour Aida, puis Macbeth. Cette Traviata est le fruit de son travail avec Robert Wilson, autre figure majeure de la mise en scène contemporaine. Ce dernier déclare n’avoir « jamais vu une production de La Traviata qui [lui] ait plu », ajoutant « elles sont généralement kitsch et très sentimentalistes … Le défi consiste à déceler une profondeur émotionnelle dans la musique, sans être superficiel ni expressif ». Après Linz, en 2015, puis Perm un an après, le Grand-Théâtre de Luxembourg réunit ces deux monstres sacrés. La lecture singulière de Bob Wilson passe aux yeux du plus grand nombre comme novatrice ou renouvelée, radicale dans son parti-pris esthétisant. Ce soir, incontestablement, elle fonctionne et le public ne s’y trompe pas, réservant de longues ovations, debout, à l’ensemble des acteurs. Avec quelque recul, le système construit au fil des ans relève cependant autant de l’artifice que la plus conventionnelle des réalisations. En dehors de Violetta et Alfredo, superbes, les éclairages de John Torres sont peut-être ce que l’on retiendra avant tout de ce spectacle. La rampe de néons éblouissants qui limite l’avant-scène annonce ce premier rôle. Constante du langage de Wilson, le traitement virtuose de la lumière, qui compense le statisme des chanteurs, autorise les plus beaux tableaux, éphémères. Toujours des tons subtils, nuancés, changeants, comme les intensités et les volumes, allant de la ponctuation crue du seul visage de Violetta au début du dernier acte à ces strates ou dégradés que l’on ne trouve qu’en haute altitude. Les contrejours, fréquents, qui dessinent les silhouettes sur ces fonds colorés, nous renvoient au XVIIIe S comme aux ombres chinoises. Mais est-on encore à l’opéra, ou sommes-nous dans un théâtre d’ombres qui eut les faveurs du public avant la naissance du cinéma ? Les costumes dessinés par Yashi sont d’une rare élégance, robes romantiques aux tons pastels des femmes, habits noirs pour les hommes.

With two grim premieres among the offerings, Monteverdi’s sharp “L’Incoronazione di Poppea” was the highlight of a week of opera.

Like Milo Rau wringing his neck at La Clémence de Titus , by Mozart, in February, the Geneva stage invited us to a first scenic foray into the world of opera and another tussle with Dido and Aeneas , by Purcell, directed by the dancer and choreographer Franck Chartier , co-founder, in 2000, with the Argentinian dancer Gabriela Carrizo, of the Brussels company Peeping Tom . It is however clear that what appeared to us as a brilliant exercise of virtuosity in the first case touches on the masterpiece this time. Yet these are two radical rereadings, but one diverts the work while the other digs a channel in its meanders. Dido and Aeneashardly offers a plot. Dido, the queen of Carthage, loves Aeneas, the Trojan fugitive whom she has taken in and whom witches, using an evil charm, will push to abandon her. Dido will choose to die on one of the most sublime lamentations in the history of opera.In a huge, heavily paneled bedroom, with library and music room, topped by a parliament hall (a literal "parliamentary chamber") lives old Didi. A rich eccentric surrounded by politicians (the choir, servants and musicians, to whom she plays Purcell's opera over and over again), crazy about Queen Dido, whose deleterious loves and tragic destiny she endorsed. Terrific Eurudike De Beul, actress, performer and singer as we can see in a speech to her people modulated in the manner of a Sufi song of ecstasy. Thriller music invaded the space while, under a mountain of white sheets, contortions seem to mimic a sexual relationship. Didi will appear, legs apart, in the frustration of an unfulfilled desire before falling in love with one of his servants, a wounded man, survivor of war and fighting – a clone of Aeneas. The incidental music created by composer and cellist Atsushi Sakai will counterpoint Purcell's score, inserting itself into the interstices of the narration as well as into the recesses of Dido/Didi's psyche. A queen unable to love, eaten away by an erotic impulse that will end up destroying her. The text produced by the Peeping Tom collective portrays a woman of power, who will not hesitate to straddle her slender and Christ-like lover for a long time. An epileptic body alphabet Disarticulated, tortured, the choreographies are written in an epileptic bodily alphabet. Bodies thrown against each other. The strength of the show is that everything, visually, refers to the music. The tragic sometimes unravels in the grating effects of vis comica, like this woman à la Rossy de Palma moaning and barking when Purcell evokes the royal hunt which will separate the lovers. And what can be said of these suddenly gutted walls, of these windows opened by the wind, giving way to heaps of sand, which will end up invading the space, burying Didi, who dies, naked, on her bed, groomed by a servant, while Dido displays the splendours of her farewell to the world. During the cupids' final chorus, an amorous dance of death sees the woman devouring the heart of the man she loves. You have 35.45% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only. CONTENT SPONSORED BYOUTBRAIN Become a Data Scientist in 11 MonthsADVERTISING GREAT LEARNING Become a Data Scientist in 11 Months Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Buys Georgia Farm - The Home Was Built For Mr. Johnson’s FamilyADVERTISING MANSION GLOBAL Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Buys Georgia Farm - The Home Was Built For Mr. Johnson’s… 6 Actions to Invest in Nuclear FusionADVERTISING THE TECH INVESTOR 6 Actions to Invest in Nuclear Fusion Your car is in high demand! Sell at best priceADVERTISING SELLRIGHT BY SPINNY Your car is in high demand! Sell at best price ₹12,000 Crore US Lottery Now Also Available in IndiaADVERTISING THELOTTER ₹12,000 Crore US Lottery Now Also Available in India