Toby the Tenor

Why aren’t more new productions of operas revivable hits? The number of new productions in UK opera houses is going down year on year but the scarcity of productions doesn’t seem to correlate with a rise in the quality of new work. The same can be said of new work in Europe and elsewhere. Why not?

Fewer new productions means stage directors with experience in opera have more availability in their schedules and yet we don’t seem to live in a time of abundant detail and considered direction on stage. I’d like to consider reasons why this might be so and offer a couple of fixes. 

It is noticeable that studio rehearsal periods are becoming shorter by a matter of weeks. When I started singing in 1995, it was normal to have four weeks in the studio before transferring to the stage for technical, orchestral and dress rehearsals. Now, studio time is more often two weeks. There is no longer time to explore ideas in the studio and, in my view, direction is more about blocking (stage traffic management) than characterisation and story telling. 

There are, of course, exceptions. Deborah Warner insists on long rehearsal periods, even for her revivals. The extra time spent is noticeable for the detail and naturalism she finds in her performers. The difference is that Deborah fills that time, patiently trusting her cast members to make discoveries along the way. Repetition is a vital part of her process, during which she makes suggestions and adjustments until she sees what she’s looking for in the scene – truth, authenticity, balance, humanity and realism. 

I’ve worked with directors who don’t know how to get well observed detail and credibility out of their casts. No matter how long they have, they resort to the broad brush strokes of generalised direction. Deborah is one example of a director who directs. There are others whose method is to draw out interesting portrayals but they don’t insist on the long rehearsal periods. 

Part of the reason why they don’t is because busy singers would prefer shorter rehearsal periods so they can move onto the next job and total more productions per year. I suggest opera houses should insist on longer rehearsal periods. Singers are paid per performance so there isn’t a huge cost implication to an extra week in the studio. 

My other fix is this: why aren’t new productions put out to tender? Why don’t opera companies announce they are doing a new production of an opera and invite directors to submit ideas, sketches and outlines for the production they would mount? Some established directors might think they are above the competition of such a process and choose not to submit. So be it. 

The most damning criticism I ever heard of a new production was “Meh. It looked like an opera.” The person who said it meant it was unoriginal, lazily directed and the singers lacked characterisation. 

We’d all like to see more productions that redefine what we expect from an opera.