Hospital patients star in opera

When Romeo Castellucci first listened to Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, what sprang to mind was a bed in a white hospital room. As the Italian theatre director carried on studying the opera, suggested as a future project by La Monnaie's Peter de Caluwe, he couldn't shake off that initial image.

So he began to investigate the possibility of using a real-life coma patient in the role of Euridice, who is suspended in limbo at the opera's start. He expected to be rebuffed, but to his surprise medical professionals were enthusiastic about the project, as were the families of the two patients eventually selected to play the role.

Castellucci's production premiered last night in Vienna to sustained applause.  A "unanimous success" in a "brand new interpretative dimension" said one reviewer.

Euridice is performed in Vienna by 25 year old Karin Anna Giselbrecht, a local hospital patient in a persistent vegetative state.  The music is played to her and video cameras relay her image to the stage, while Christiane Karg sings. There is a reprise in Brussels next month, when the part will be taken by a Belgian stroke victim named Els, who has locked-in syndrome.

Comments

[Alexander]

being naïve I thought the opera is to convey all the manifestations of everyday's routine using the power of art and so to bring human ills and ailments to life , cutting all naturalism of material world off to make spiritual things ( read "immaterial") more explicit ... presumably that guy is deluding himself due to lack of fantasy ( hopefully not a talent or professionalism;) and try to do a step down from the art to a regular everyday's routine ...in this case Bedlam patients would be more suitable ...

[Johann Erinn]

I believe Castellucci is sincere, but having lost someone myself in this way -- a 44-month period during which it was impossible to know what was reaching the person or to understand signals coming back, or even to be sure they were signals, ending in death -- I am not sure it is right to present the situation as a spectacle. It is not as if there is anything to be gained from raising public awareness that people sometimes leave us in a "persistent vegetative" state. The cooperation of the Lienz doctors in this case is strange to me, that of the family less so.

[John Marston]

Just to clarify, the performances in Brussels next month are of the Berlioz version of Gluck's opera (1859), sung in French. The Vienna performances are of Gluck's 1762 version, in Italian. I assume that in some future year, the two versions and their productions will swap over.

[inter mezzo]

It is the same production in both venues, hence my use of the term 'reprise'. It is very unlikely the Vienna shows will be repeated, as they're part of the Festwochen, and in a venue not normally used for opera. Whether there's a repeat in Brussels may depend on the show's reception.

[Gi]

So two people are dragged into a show without having any say in it...
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Intermezzo replies - The nature of their conditions means they don't have any say in anything, but as I indicated above, their families have consented.

[Johann Erinn]

That's right. It may well help the families though.

Not discussed above is the prognosis for Karin Anna (in Vienna) and Els (slated for Brussels). In the case I experienced, the doctors were able to state definitively after five months, "no recovery!" The doctors and the two families here may be in a state of hope or of resignation regarding the future for the patients. I think that makes a difference, ethically, as to whether they should be on involuntary display.

[Nikolaus Vogel]

Exploitive, or what? The whole thing sounds sick to me.