It’s curtain down, the opera has just ended and the cast are – dressed in 18th century attire – each taking their turns to bow to the applause, to the sound of “Così’s” ouverture . Confused? Well, that was just the start to an evening that was as whacky as it was amusing, if not also a touch baffling – “thought-provoking” some might say, but it definitely left the audience with more questions than answers. With more than a gesture towards regietheatre , Jan Philipp Gloger added some German flair to Mozart’s classic, to considerable – yet probably controversial – effect.
All the World’s a Stage Gloger’s take on “Così” was framed from the start by the old Shakespearean idea of a play within a play, or more accurately in this case, an opera within an opera. Daniel Behle and Andrè Schuen as Ferrando and Guglielmo respectively, no longer in period costume but now dressed as contemporary opera-goers, kick-started the action by jumping out from seats in the stalls circle onto the stage. From then on, there were countless scenes with events figuratively taking place on and offstage and behind-the-scenes, where theatre blended with reality in countless ways, with a whirlwind of set changes to match.
This included an 18th-century style stage and set – think Drottningholm theatre, an Adam and Eve mini set with a kitschy giant-serpent-and-apple-tree combo, and later we were back to contemporary times, with the view of an opera house from the stage .
