Theater an der Wien: The Fiery Angel

Театр Ан дер Вин: Огненный ангел

Prokofiev’s Fiery Angel is one of the outstanding operas of the 20th century. Director Andrea Breth transfers the story of Renata, who is plagued by visions, to a clinic. The atmosphere is characterised by agonizing hopelessness but at the same time heightened by the emotional excesses of the inmates. This monochrome approach, which dispenses with any historical embellishment, is legitimised by the careful elaboration of the characters. Aušrinė Stundytė, one of the outstanding singing actors of our time, and the congenial Bo Skovhus play out the consequences of traumatisation with merciless precision in Breth’s interpretation. “Musically gripping, scenically intense.” (Wiener Zeitung) / “A scenic sensation.” (Kurier) / “Aušrinė Stundytė succeeds in her singing balancing act between eruptive power and vulnerability.” (Die Presse)

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Actors

Ruprecht

Renata

The innkeeper

The witch

Agrippa / Mephistopheles

Nikolai Schukoff

Crew

Conductor

Constantin Trinks

Director

Andrea Breth

Set designer

Martin Zehetgruber

Costume Designer

Carla Teti

Lighting Designer

Alexander Koppelmann

Summary

The year is 1534. Ruprecht spends the night in a run-down inn. Suddenly he hears cries of fear from the next room, in which it seems a woman is in danger. He breaks down the connecting door to help her and comes face to face with a stunningly beautiful woman – who is alone. She implores him to protect her and tells him her extraordinary story: Her name, she says, is Renata, and ever since she was a child she had an intimate relationship with a fiery angel called Madiel, but she has lost him and has been looking for him, constantly pursued by demons. Something about this strange woman moves Ruprecht. He becomes her protector and more and more he falls deeply in love with her, but she only takes advantage of him. When he is seriously injured, she cares apparently loving for him, but then she enters a convent. Soon after her arrival strange things start to happen there. The abbess summons an inquisitor, but his exorcism spirals completely out of control. In the end the inquisitor sentences Renata to be burned at the stake.