Basel Opera Premiere: Janáček’s ‘House of the Dead’ (Aus einem Totenhaus) til 19 Feb '10

This is Janáček’s darkest opera. It’s based on a tale by Dostoevsky from his autobiographical evocation of prison life. The stories are presented as a series of monologues by individual prisoners.

Director Calixto Bieito, the enfant terrible of European opera who directed Lulu last season, provides an imaginative production with a lot of dramatic action. The staging effectively conjures up the misery and poverty of the prisoners lives, where life is cheap. There’s an undercurrent of violence which rears up at the slightest provocation, bordering on madness. Each prisoner has a sad tale to tell, and the excellent stage performances by the whole cast accentuates the human tragedy. Calixto Bieito allows the audience no relief. Even the supposedly festive second act where the prisoners improvise two plays is undercut by sadism and perversity.

 The orchestral accompaniment is beautiful and highly accessible, which is in stark contrast to the difficult thematic of the opera as a whole and the recitative-style solos. Through the rattle of unusual percussion instruments, we hear the clattering of prisoners’ chains. This sound and the gloom of the prisoner’s hopeless lives remains with us long after we’ve left the auditorium. The audience’s somewhat subdued reaction at curtain call was decidedly positive; Calixto Bieito in particular receiving accolades.

The opera is sung in Czech with German subtitles. Performance dates are 10/14/22/30 Nov., 10/27/29 Jan. and 5/13/17/19 Feb.

www.theater-basel.ch