Festen

Thomas Vinterberg’s cult film is transformed into a bold new opera in this world premiere by Mark-Anthony Turnage.

Background
Decorum descends into chaos in this piercing new opera of trauma and complicity. Acclaimed contemporary composer Mark-Anthony Turnage (Anna Nicole, Coraline) and librettist Lee Hall (Billy Elliott) come together with director Richard Jones (La bohème, Samson et Dalila) to adapt Oscar-winning filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg’s (The Hunt, Another Round) 1998 film. An international cast conducted by Edward Gardner and led by Allan Clayton, Stéphane Degout and Gerald Finley takes on this operatic world premiere.

From Screen to Stage
The Danish avant-garde film movement Dogme95 that became infamous within the world of cinema in the late nineties began with Festen (The Celebration), Thomas Vinterberg’s international breakthrough and the source material for composer Mark-Anthony Turnage. With fellow film director Lars von Trier (Nymphomaniac, Melancholia, Breaking the Waves – the latter two adapted into operas), Vinterberg created a manifesto that intentionally mimicked French film auteur François Truffaut’s ‘Une certaine tendance du cinema’, the Cahiers du cinéma article that had launched the French New Wave movement in 1954.
The Dogme95 rules or ‘vows of chastity’, as named by von Trier and Vinterberg, were to be implemented, first and foremost, to allow traditional storytelling, raw performance style and specific themes greater focus. Elaborate special effects and technology were forbidden, while shooting was to be done on location, in natural light and with hand-held cameras. With this approach, it is perhaps unsurprising that Festen – its damning emotional revelations unvarnished by the artificial devices of popular cinema – is particularly conducive to the more organic and indeed dramatic setting of the stage. Festen has been adapted multiple times for the stage, including for the Almeida Theatre, in the West End and later on Broadway. The libretto for this opera has been adapted and created by Lee Hall, who wrote the screenplay for the film Billy Elliott.

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