~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
eye WEEKLY                                               April 13 1995
Toronto's arts newspaper                      .....free every Thursday
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BACK STAGE                                                  BACK STAGE
                                preview

                          LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR
             Featuring Young-Ok Shin, Michael Rees Davis,
                    Sigmund Cowan and Anita Krause.
                     Composed by Gaetano Donizetti.
                       Directed by Frank Matthus.
                     O'Keefe Centre, 1 Front St. E.
                     To April 30. $21-$85, 872-2262

                         NO ITALIANS IN KILTS

                                  by
                          CHRISTOPHER WINSOR

Frank Matthus woke up one day and it was no longer there. (Up 'til that
moment, it always had been.) So, the then-26-year-old member of the
Berliner Ensemble -- the theatre company founded by Bertolt Brecht and
still one of the world's most prestigious -- went for a walk.

"It was very strange," he says of the day the wall came down. "I had
never seen the other half of a city."

Although, he had seen the inside of an East German Army choir, which is
one up on me. As an East Berliner, Matthus did his mandatory stint in
greens and had once volunteered to lead his fellow helmet-heads in
choral singing. Now, at 31, he is making his North American debut as an
opera director, leading the even more talented COC wig-heads through
Donizetti's 1835 opera Lucia di Lammermoor.

What bearing that experience had on this one is up for grabs. In
between, however, Matthus performed major film and TV roles in Germany,
became artistic director of a theatre in Brandenburg and recently
staged the opera Die Helmkehr des Odysseus in the open-air castle
setting of Rheinsberg.

Just a regular guy, with some sensible things to say about theatre in
general, and Lucia di Lammermoor in particular.

"In theatre, I am my own conductor and composer, if you like," he says.
"I can compose the tension of a situation. But when you direct opera,
you have the music to serve. You must find a situation, a real
situation, behind the music. A lot of opera is boring because there is
no theatrical tension between the audience and the piece. When you
simply sing the text, it's one-dimensional. But the story ... the story
is always exciting. It's new every time."

The story of Lucia di Lammermoor is something borrowed, something new.
Based on a novel by Sir Walter Scott, it chronicles the blood feud
between the Scottish noble families of Ravenswood and Lammermoor. For
the opera, however, the names were Italianized. Which would have been
very funny if Donizetti's original costume designer hadn't got that
note, because then you would've had a bunch of huge and very loud
Italian singers flailing about in kilts.

Basically, this is the story of a forced marriage, arranged by an
unscrupulous brother (Enrico) for his own profit, which thwarts true
love (Lucia's and Edgardo's). It includes a celebrated mad scene
(Lucia's) and all ends in death, of course, plus several high notes.

However archetypal, this framework is more than enough for Matthus to
explore. Which he does, with the dialectic intensity fitting a man so
familiar with Brecht.

"For example," he explains, "Enrico is a brutal man. He has to always
be in power. But what if he has one secret, and that is that he truly
loves his sister? I need that to be a tension, a subtext -- that, I can
play."

Finding, or inventing if need be, the apparent opposites in characters'
relationships is one of the keys to making theatre interesting. It's
what can make a scene or situation compelling. For Lucia's famous
third-act mad scene, Matthus suggested an equally thoughtful subtext.

"For me, Lucia (played here by the acclaimed Korean American soprano
Young- ok Shin) is young and beautiful, sensitive and open to her first
experience of love and men. So when she goes mad and believes she has
married Edgardo, what if she is actually very happy? That in her mind,
her stay here is over, and she has finally found love?"

Sounds compelling. Yet Matthus admits there are limits to how far you
can take this directorial tack. The son of a very respected German
composer and a pianist himself, Matthus is quick to point out that
since music is emotion, it often feels good to rest your brain and just
"wallow in it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Retransmit freely in cyberspace        Author holds standard copyright
http://www.interlog.com/eye                     Mailing list available
e...@interlog.com     "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..."     416-971-8421