Theatre

"The costumes are a fusion of antiquity and modernity which succeed in locating the play precisely nowhere." Thus wrote Lloyd Evans, theatre critic of The Spectator on a certain play - i doesn't matter which one because they do it all the time. This band of new directors seem to want to be as creative as the playwrights or composers of operas; they want their work to be as outstanding as that which they are interpreting. So they set an opera in no-man's-land.
I have seen three operas in the past few years and each one was set nowhere, as Lloyd Evans said the play he saw was set. First there was Salome by Richard Strauss. It was a mess. You wouldn't have been able to follow the plot unless you had read up about it beforehand. There were no famous arias and the music was at times quite dull. Yes, you did have the dance of the seven vails which does have some exciting music. But that was all. Then there was Wozzek by Berg. I have tried hard to appreciate Alban Berg but find his music quite tuneless; not as tuneless as Schonberg but tuneless just the same. It was set in a sort of baked beans factory. It had a murder and everyone was dressed in bright costumes. But it was quite a sordid plot (if you could follow it) and there were no arias that were at all memorable. Recently I saw the Welsh National Opera's take on Turandot, "Puccini's greatest work" I'm informed. It was, as I should have expected, set in another no-man's-land. It had two arias that were worth hearing - "None shall sleep" being one of them - and the rest was quite dismal (the plot, of course, was ridiculous as many operas and ballets are but you expect the music to lift you to that plane of excellence where you "willingly suspend your disbelief"). People wore modern outfits - and this was supposed to be ancient Japan. Or was it China? It didn't matter where it was because the directors and designers decided to set it nowhere.
This is the last opera I shall attend.I used to like some operas but with the advent of the modernising directors and the modernising designers I'd prefer to stay at home and watch "The Killing".
By the way, Wozzek died when he fekl into a heap of tinned beans.