Vienna State Opera, 2019

Directing Benjamin Britten’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Vienna State Opera, which premiered on October 2, 2019, was an exhilarating opportunity to unite my love for Shakespeare with my passion for opera. This production opened the 2019/20 season of the Vienna State Opera, a house I hold dear, and it marked my first major project after leaving Nice.

When I started looking more closely at the Britten opera, initially I had the impression that the opera is very different from the play because of the music; in several scenes there is a completely different basic tempo that makes it seem less nimble. But as I became more familiar with Britten’s setting, I grew to love this music which effectively casts a spell over you. I realised then that what I had here was the ideal music for this play.

Working with Australian conductor Simone Young, scenographers Noëlle Ginefri-Corbel and Magali Castellan, lighting designer Jean Kalman, and choreographer Martin Buczko, we brought Britten’s enchanting and complex world to life. The set, a ruin overgrown with wild plants and trees, and the costumes, with the lovers in boarding school uniforms, gave the production a distinctive look while staying true to the spirit of Shakespeare’s beloved play.

It was wonderful to collaborate with a talented cast, including Moldovan soprano Valentina Naforniță, who sang Helena, and American countertenor Lawrence Zazzo as Oberon. I approached this production with the same philosophy that drives all my work: making theatre accessible and joyful, while celebrating strong characters and vivid storytelling.