pure theatrical IKEA - Christof Loy's flatpack Tristan in photos

 

A quick first glimpse of Christof Loy's new Tristan und Isolde for the Royal Opera House shows that anyone expecting billowing sails and crumbling towers is going to be disappointed.

His design inspiration like his leading lady Nina Stemme appears to hail from Sweden. The Baltic greys of the monochrome sets, the COSy costumes, the painted-on panelling suggest not just a man who can work to a budget but the cool nordic austerity of early Bergman.

And not a ship in sight.

 

********** many more photos over the page *********

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Photos copyright Bill Cooper / Royal Opera House

Comments

[dolcevita]

LOL @ the title :)

I'd much prefer a concert version but with such a starry cast you can forgive the cheap uninspirational minimalism of Christof Loy.

Thanks for the pics. I'll hopefully come to see the 4th show.

[Julian Hopkins]

I agree with dolcevita but I am not so forgiving. Many of us who attended the ROH Tristan Insight evening earlier this month, at which Christof Loy tried to explain his concept, remained puzzled and perhaps not a little irritated that the production was clearly going to be minimalist in design and almost timeless in its staging. He talked at length (but not convincingly) about psychological aspects of the opera's characters and their motivation - inherent in the music and text, of course - but he avoided any references to how the production was actually going to look and feel, in reflecting the spirit of the work. He should be relegated to a concert performance producer, which suits his kind of approach, e.g. the recent ROH "Lulu".

It is an outrage that many of the world's leading opera houses invest in this ridiculous type of non-concept, ignoring historical accuracy or perpective, and often deliberately going against the wishes of the composer. Perhaps we should delay judgement until we have seen the evidence on stage in this case, after a few performances, but I fear the production will prove to be an insult to the composer, and to Pappano and the top rank singers who will have prepared the musical performance so intelligently and conscientiously. It is hugely disappointing that this happens so often - I have lost count of the times I have heard the cry at the ROH, "Great musical performance - pity about the production."

[Faye xx]

God, it looks an ugly production!!! Thanks for posting it though....

[Mark Berry]

Obviously none of us has seen it yet, but I really cannot understand the concept of 'outrage' voiced in one of the comments, concerning 'historical accuracy or perpective'. Even stage direction fundamentalists rarely seem to think that the 'historical' setting of 'Tristan' matters. It is far more important to, say, 'Die Meistersinger'. The action (Wagner used the word 'Handlung' to describe the work) is so much in the music that the stage barely matters: 'deeds of music made visible', as he put it in his 'Beethoven' essay. I remember thinking that, whilst Loy's production of 'Lulu' sold the work short - social context seems to me extremely important there - it would probably work rather well for 'Tristan'. We shall see...

[Tristan]

Oh, Ms Intermezzo, how sad this looks!

I will be going to see the opening night in a couple of hours and my deflation could not be greater - such a masterpiece deserved infinitely better.

Reports from the dress were woeful in regards to the production. Luckily, it appears, Ms Stemme is sensational.

Is may be time to let Herr Loy know exactly what one thinks of his non-productions.

And WHY is the ROH bulk-scheduling him? He is a talentless director. Just a quick look at his scheduele:

http://operabase.com/listart.cgi?name=christof+loy&loose=E&acts=+Schedule+

and one can see how it is humanly and intellectually impossible to direct two, three and four operas each month - even if the director had talent.

I, for one, have had enough of him.

Tristan, London

[John]

Tristan

I do not think all the productions listed are new ones. Many are revivals, but I do agree with you about his talent.

[Giuseppe W]

This is absurd. It hasn't even opened yet. Why are blog comments so conservative? Perhaps because it makes them easier to write. Thanks to Mark Berry for being (in this case) the voice of reason.

[mj]

Hmmm, I don't think it looks so bad from the photos. Not that photos are any way to judge an opera production. I wish I could see Nina Stemme's Isolde, in any production!

I have only seen two Loy productions, his Clemenza di Tito in Frankfurt and Theodora at the Salzburg Festival. The Theodora was not dramatically involving (for me) but that may have been the fault of the piece itself. The Tito on the other hand... wow! It was just what an updated production should be. I was completely drawn into the story.

I live in San Francisco where we get 30+ year old moldy John Copley productions for our Mozart opera serias (Idomeneo last year). And for our last Tristan, a couple of years ago (with another great Isolde, Christine Brewer) we had the 20+ year old moldy David Hockney Tristan. I would take Christoph Loy and Ikea sets over these any day!

[Hal]

Why bother with tables and chairs? Just give a concert performance. Period. Cheaper too since cheap seems to be a factor in all this.

[dolcevita]

Most of his minimalist productions are really cheap which is every theater's GM dream. The side effect if that most of the Loy's recent stagings are also shallow.

Julian, C.Loy does it all the time: the IKEA setting is preceeded by a pretentious discourse by which he is supposed to convince the crowd that there is more to it than a simple pile of chairs. I see he did it this time too. You didn't buy into it but many do, time and time again ;)

OTOH this Tristan must be overall dreadfully expensive. Stemme and Hepner are known to be the most expensive singers in this business. The rest of the cast is top notch too, so I GUESS the ROH wanted to minimize the cost by opting for a minimalist-cheap-Loy production. After all Tristan is more about the good orchestra and good singers than about the perfect staging.

Cheers

[Irina]

He's the same one who directed "Lucrezia Borgia" at the Bavarian State Opera this year. It looks like he brought the wall&table to London. Oh, but he must have duplicates. Lucrezia Borgia is on at the same time with Tristan and Islode.

[Tristan]

Just back from Tristan.

Stemme: sensational
Volle: Excellent
Tomlinson: Very good
Koch: Good
Heppner: Not very good

Orchestra: Good

Production: Appaling. The heavy booing (I felt I was in Bayreuth again!) was totally justifiable. Mr Loy has again proved he is talentless.

Looking forward to Ms Intermezzo's wise words.

[Mark]

Just back from it too. Always thought booing was rude, but not this time, I was happy to join in. All that business with the curtain was REALLY annoying. Such a shame given the talent on the stage and Stemme was indeed stunning as was Volle.

[Michael]

Nina Stemme was indeed a sensational Isolde, crowning her triumph with a radiant Liebestod. Her colleagues were also excellent, although Heppner cracked and went flat a lot in Act II.

I thought the production was especially perverse in Act III, and this really earned the boos, which were in no way drowned by cheers.

In contrast, a lot of people including me (a first), stood at Stemmes' solo call.

I think Loy is a good director of people, and the final part of Act I was emotional and gripping. But this was minimalism one step too far. Oh that curtain........

[Hugh Kerr]

I am going on the 17th in my usual upper slips seats so will close my eyes and listen to the glorious music after all its a pretty difficult plot to stage realistically.

[Keith]

The booing was in NO way deserved - this was a stunning production - I just feel sorry for the people who didn't understand it.

[Dogbrook]

Most of Wagner's works, Tristan in particular, are mythic works damaged by a concern for "historical accuracy". They don't take place in distinct distant past but in an ever-renewed psychological present. Wagner himself knew this and strove for productions different from the contemporary obsession with historical realism (for more on this check out Patrick Carnegy's great book "Wagner and the Art of the Theatre"). Wagner did not find the stagings that best suited his works for two reasons. The first is that he was wrong about how they should be staged (poo to composers intentions). The second is because there is no 'best' or 'model' staging of oepra. Every performance is a living work of art and every new production is just that, new. People who do not appreciate this should stay out of the theatre and subscribe only to the concert hall. I am, quite frankly, sickened by this self-indulgent, lazy and rude booing of production teams at Covent Garden by spoilt fools who cannot distinguish what they like from what is good.

[Rich]

It seems to me that there is a massive cultural difference here.

The minimalist setting, rather generously, allowed the music and story to shine through as opposed to pandering to audience pampering.

Loy is a visionary whose sublime direction allowed the audience the desire to give the artists a standing ovation.

Still, it's often easier to criticise something you don't understand, something that threatens tradition.

God forbid an audience actually having to think as opposed to being spoon fed pretty, literal re-hashed productions.

[dolcevita]

To take as an example the opposite to his shallow minimalism is as disgusting. We do not want that either. Why do we need to go to extremes to enjoy art?

Loy's Lulu was horrid, his Carmen atrocious, and Cosi - well, I want to believe it could be worse. I want to believe this T&I is not as bad as his previous work.