This is Mozart’s Magic Flute as you’ve never seen it before: Paris' favourite British director, Peter Brook (stalwart of the Bouffes du Nord), explores the playful opera in just 100 minutes, with only seven singers, two actors and pianist Franck Krawczyk who has reworked the original score for one piano. The result is a deliciously pleasing mise-en-scene, with a minimalist set almost entirely made of bamboo poles, and characters with genuine depth. Even Tamino’s quest to ‘recognise wisdom’ comes across very well – something that often gets lost amid the rococo trimmings of traditional Magic Flute performances.
Songs are in German and spoken text is in French.