# Regietheatre: Yes or no?



## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

From WIK, it is defined:

*Regietheater* (German for _director's theater_) is the modern (mainly post-World War II) practice of allowing a director freedom in devising the way a given opera or play is staged so that the creator's original, specific intentions or stage directions (where supplied) can be changed, together with major elements of geographical location, chronological situation, casting and plot. Typically such changes may be made to point a particular political point or modern parallels which may be remote from traditional interpretations.
Examples found in _Regietheater_ productions may include some or all of the following:


The story is relocated from the original location to a more modern period (including setting in a totalitarian regime)[SUP][1][/SUP]
Modifications to the story from the original script[SUP][2][/SUP]
Interpretative elements stressing the role of race/gender/class-based oppression are emphasised. Bayreuth Festival page in regard to the 1976 _Ring Cycle_: In his 1976 staging of the_Ring Cycle_ at the Bayreuth Festival, Patrice Chéreau used an updated 19th century setting that followed the interpretation of George Bernard Shaw who saw the _Ring_ as a social commentary on the exploitation of the working class by wealthy 19th century capitalists.[SUP][3][/SUP]
Abstraction in the set design[SUP][4][/SUP]
An emphasis on sexuality[SUP][5][/SUP]
Costumes frequently mix eras and locales. Examples include the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis's 2010 production of Mozart's _The Marriage of Figaro_ and its 2011 _Don Giovanni_ which portray some characters in 18th century attire and others in mid-20th century clothing.

What do you think? Should art remain true to its time period, when it was created, or should it be re-interpreted for each succeeding generation of consumers?

Are "ideas" generally like this? Do they have a constant, 'Platonic' form which can be "traced back" to the original concept? Are many "new" works of literature, plot, character, etc., simply re-hashes of old ideas?


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Horrible I want Norma to look like Asterix and Obelix and La fanciulla del west to look like Lucky Luke.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

It can be done, if done with discretion, or done outrageously in a way that does not do violence to the original. (30 years ago Peter Sellars directed a Figaro set in Trump Tower, with the Trump figure as the Count; and a contemporary Mikado at a time when Japanese businessmen were taking over the world.) But directors who ignore important stage business that not only is essential to the plot, but is spelled out in the music, take it at least two steps too far.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Of course, then there's Reggaetheatre, which, as long as it remains true to Bob Marley, is okay.


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## Magnum Miserium (Aug 15, 2016)

No. It can be done well, but if it's done at all, then most of the time it will be done s***ily, and minor artists - which is what all directors are - don't have the right to get in the way of major art works.


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