He is well-known in opera houses across mainland Europe; his style has been likened to Quentin Tarantino or Pedro Almodovar; he is a 55 year-old Spanish opera director from Barcelona; he is Calixto Bieito.
His name may be unfamiliar as, so far as I can see, he has only directed three operas in the UK: La forza del destino for the ENO (a 2015 joint production with the Met); Turandot for Opera Northern Ireland, also in 2015; Cosi fan tutte for Welsh National Opera in 2000. He set Verdi’s opera in the Spanish Civil War, Puccini’s in a doll factory in the Soviet Union and Mozart’s in a cafe and dance hall. His hallmark in his many productions across Europe are contemporary 20th century settings and a visceral, raw reality.
On Monday evening we saw Calixto’s Carmen at Opéra Bastille. The curtain rises to show a large, bare parade ground with a central flagpole. To the left is a telephone box. The soldiers’ uniforms suggest that we are in late 20th century Spain. One soldier in only boots and underpants runs round and round the perimeter of the parade ground as a punishment until he collapses in exhaustion. A large chorus of women from the unseen cigarette factory and children mingle with the lustful soldiers.
Using real cars as opera props has become a familiar gimmmick. Calixto plays with this trope. The smugglers arrive in eight cars and the fight between Don José and Escamillo takes place on top of them. In the background is a massive cut out bull. You may remember it advertising sherry along Spanish roads.
For the last act the stage is bare again. A bullring is suggested by a broad white oval line on the stage. Attention is drawn to the people. First the huge chorus at the corrida, then the confrontation between Don José and Carmen on an otherwise empty stage.
When all’s said and done Don José throws aside his childhood sweetheart to become a jealous, psychopathic stalker and Carmen is a slut. Calixto’s production brings this out but Bizet’s music and some beautiful singing makes it a compelling performance.
Calixto has excited and infuriated audiences across Europe for more than twenty years. There is a ballet scene in Carmen where the dancer undresses until he is starkers and insouciantly does a matador dance routine; that’s trade mark Calixto. British opera critic, Rupert Christiansen, not known for his sunny disposition, wrote that he’d rather spend an evening in Tunbridge Wells than watch Calixto’s Cosi at WNO. Is this an advertisement for the cultural opportunities in TW? I think not.
When I was a child I was warned not to drink tap water in France. Until recently there were not enough charging points in hotels, so this is a welcome change.
