The Daughter of the Regiment

[jhill]

I have just finished listening to the broadcast from New York of the new production of Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment. This production apparently began in London about a year ago and has been seen in Vienna. I cannot find any post here from our English members. Originally, the action took place in the Swiss Tyrol during the Napoleonic wars, but in this case, the director, Laurent Pelly, seems to have moved things to the Great War era, complete with boulders made from huge crumpled trench maps, and the hero rescuing his sweetheart in the last scene with what appears to be a Renault tank!

Does anyone have any comments about the suitability or otherwise of this sort of thing? I personally have no strong feelings one way or another, but I tend not to be impressed with wild shifts of setting for standard works. I might add that on this side of the Atlantic, this stuff is often lumped under the general heading "Euro-trash", so I am probably biased.

There is a Youtube snippet

. The soloist is Juan Diego Florez.

[Norrette]

Does anyone have any comments about the suitability or otherwise of this sort of thing?

Hi James,

I saw this on UK TV at Christmas, and thought it a good production so I wouldn't have classed it as trash. It's common in London for directors/producers to relocate classics in both time and place. I've often seen Macbeth transformed to other times and even Julius Caesar was placed in the Iraq conflict recently. I expect they do it for two reasons - for regular theatre goers who want to see different interpretations of the same production, and to show that these classics have messages for all times.

I get annoyed myself sometimes - esp if I see something for the first time and want to see it how I imagine it to be in the text.

Norrette

[jhill]

Norrette,

Thanks for that.

Of course directors change time and places all the time. I suppose that is the issue. A very long time ago I watched Richard III being cut down with a tommy gun in a futuristic production. I was probably just young enough that it had a life long negative effect on me (where did he expect anybody to find a horse to exchange his kingdom for?).

I am not an expert here, but I believe the "cult of the director" is still a point of great controversy in the arts biz. A cynic might say that a good director can change things so much that the audience does not notice slackness elsewhere in the performance.

As to moving old comedies into a Great War setting in general, I have mixed feelings. On one hand I think it is good that the Great War is treated by comic talents. On the other, I don't really think this particular example added anything.

Thanks again for your response.

[Martin Bennitt]

The DVD of the Donizetti is being heavily promoted in France at the moment as it stars French singer Nathalie Dessay as the heroine, strutting about in a T-shirt and braces, horizon blue trousers and an Adrian helmet, pointing a rifle (not sure if a genuine Lebel) in a rather unsoldierly fashion. The 'Renault' tank also has way too long a gun barrel. But no doubt the singing is good, and I think only purists should have a problem with it and other such productions.

Not so long ago Kenneth Branagh brought out a film version of The Magic Flute which was also sort of set in the Great War, though the uniforms were all a bit fantastic. The movie seems to have bombed a bit, it certainly didn't stay long in cinemas in Paris.

The Richard III you saw was probably the one with Ian McKellan as a fascistic type of dictator king -- his horse was an armoured car IIRC. I personally thought it brilliant.

All performances require suspension of disbelief to a greater or less extent. If the production is powerful enough it will carry the audience with it, accepting the world that the director chooses to create.

cheers Martin B

[jhill]

snip,snip ...

The Richard III you saw was probably the one with Ian McKellan as a fascistic type of dictator king -- his horse was an armoured car IIRC. I personally thought it brilliant.

snip, snip, ...

cheers Martin B

Actually, it was earlier than that. A local theatre did it with Ron Moody (remember him?). Young as I was, I thought he was far better than was the production. In those days, when the foreign exchange was different, English actors sometimes came through bytimes. They may still do, now that the loonie (Canadian dollar) has regained fashion.

Thanks for your comment.