Così fan tutte

Production: Drottningholms Slottsteater

Marc Minkowski and Ivan Alexandre have taken up an ambitious and novel challenge: that of making the three operas written by Lorenzo Da Ponte and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – which resemble the tessellae of a splendid mosaic – into three-part series which will be staged four times.

Each opera is a masterpiece in its own right but they also have several features in common: respect for the unities of classical drama (unity of place, time and action) and the similarities between the characters (Countess-Donna Elvira / Don Giovanni-Count, and so on). Thus each libretto appears in its true colours when the opera is seen in conjunction with the other two because certain traits are completed and clarified.

Staging them one after the other, as in a festival, affords the audience new insights by enabling them to immerse themselves in the turbulent lives of the motley gallery of characters. All the women share the suffering caused by the violence of the male characters. Their only refuge is feminine solidarity and their menfolk, after abusing their freedom, are invariably met with forgiveness.

This new perspective brings new meanings to light, confronting the audience with the notion of seduction and raising crucial questions such as: “What does it mean to be a man or a woman in present-day society?”, “What limits do we put on our desires?”, “What does it mean to form a couple today?” or “What are the consequences of our impulses and of abuse?”.

For seduction lies at the core of this trilogy, which is an ageless mirror, an inexhaustible handbook for life, and a folle journée as well, during which così fan tutt(i), while all voices unite to sing "Viva la libertà!".