https://youtu.be/YIPUqQd9XOQ (prelim/rehearsal trailer)
Oh dear. This really did not work on any level – musically/dramatically/interpretively. Much was made in initial publicity about the changing of gender roles, most particularly MacHeath but other than hearing a different register perform the songs there seemed to be no sound or revelatory reason why this change was made.
And this rather pointless change was a hallmark of the production – in that there seemed to be no focus for the action, the characters and their interactions. The abstract vivid yellow set of tiered circular and rectangular platforms (visible as you entered the auditorium) gave zero sense of place and time and this was confirmed by the costumes which, while individually vivid, did not to me give a sense of character – and if they did, it seemed a wrong or weird one. This was noticeable with Mr. and Mrs. Peachum. He was wearing a gold puffa jacket costume which made him look (a) ridiculous and (b) much more importantly, almost completely non-threatening and certainly not the ruthless underworld boss he is written as. If he looked like anything, it was a ‘trying-too-hard’ influencer. And Mrs. Peachum was made a grotesquely cartoonish figure of fun. It might be thought from these remarks, and other aspects of the production, that the approach was going to be to bring out comedy and play it for laughs but no, nothing as considered.
The other major flaw was that there was a zero sense of place and time. Certainly nothing that was conveyed by the set or the costumes and as a result a, if not the, major aspect of this work was almost completely lost. And when you added into the mix the fact that one had only a limited sense of the relationships between the characters and their development, well you have the recipe for an unsuccessful evening.
The voices were a mix – not, in itself, a bad thing, ranging from the clearly operatic to the ‘actor who can sing’. I was also told by the remarkably knowledgeable friend with whom I attended the performance that there were musical cuts which, given the acres of dialogue, was the last thing that should have happened.
I should perhaps add however that I have virtually no German and that there were no surtitles but I have seen shows like this before, in that situation and they all conveyed to me considerably more than this one did, even with my general knowledge of the plot.
It will be interesting to see how the rest of the new Intendant’s season progresses.