A theatrical family & a damaged dancer: Christoph Loy's new production of Rusalka at the Teatro Real, Madrid

Dvorak: Rusalka, Act II - Asmik Grigorian - Teatro Real, Madrid
Photo Monika Rittershaus

Dvorak Rusalka; Asmik Grigorian, Eric Cutler, Karita Mattila, Maxim Kuzmin-Karavaev,Katarina Dalayman, Christoph Loy, Ivor Bolton; Live-stream from Teatro Real, Madrid on Mezzo TV/Medici TV
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 25 November 2020 Star rating: 4.0 (★★★★)
Set in a dilapidated theatre amidst theatrical memories, this new production from Madrid featured powerful musical performances

For all the popularity of what might be termed its hit number, Dvorak's opera Rusalka has a somewhat odd history in the UK. It had to wait until 1959 before Sadler's Wells Opera gave the UK premiere, with Joan Hammond in the title role [historic Radio Times listing]. Then pickings remain rather slim until David Pountney's iconic production for English National Opera in 1983, using the work to depict a young Edwardian woman's troubling discovery of her sexuality. This production seemed to open people's eyes to the work, that underneath the fairy-tale was quite a disturbing story. But it would be the 21st century before there were stagings at Covent Garden (in a production borrowed from Salzburg), Glyndebourne, and Grange Park Opera (a production also borrowed by Scottish opera). British directors seem to have viewed the work often via allegory - fairy-tale (often quite dark) or history (English Touring Opera's production examining racial prejudice in the American Deep South.) European directors have often taken a more hard-edged approach, so the Salzburg Festival production seen at Covent Garden in 2012 directed by Sergio Morabito was set in a contemporary brothel.

So it was with great interested that I was able to catch a live stream of Christoph Loy's new production of Dvorak's Rusalka from the Teatro Real in Madrid on Wednesday 25 November. The production debuted on 12 November 2020, conducted by Ivor Bolton, with Asmik Grigorian in the title role, Eric Cutler as the Prince, Karita Mattila as the Foreign Princess, Maxim Kuzmin-Karavaev as the Vodnik, and Katarina Dalayman as Jezibaba. The sets were designed by Johannes Leiacker and costumes by Ursula Renzenbrink. The performance on Wednesday 25 November 2020 was streamed live on mezzo.tv and medici.tv

Loy has replaced the idea of the lake, the nymphs and the fairy-tale, with that of the theatre and using this as a metaphor for the difficulties of communicating between two worlds, so that an opera with a mute heroine is seen as problematic. The artistic statements surrounding the production make a lot of sense, but how does this work in practice? Act One is set in the foyer of a faded theatre (though a large outcrop of stone makes it clear that this is magic realism), ballerinas float past, sad clown-like figures appear with stylised movements. Rusalka's sisters, the nymphs, are all ballerinas, their father, Vodnik, is an imperious theatre manager whilst their stepmother, Jezibaba, manages the box office. Rusalka, however, is crippled and on crutches with one bad foot. These people live on their memories and separate from the real world. Rusalka longs to leave, with the Prince representing the ideal of the real world. She is 'healed' by her stepmother and cursed. 

Dvorak: Rusalka - Erik Cutler, Asmik Grigorian - Teatro Real, Madrid
Photo Monika Rittershaus

Having set up his mis-en-scene, Loy allows the remainder of the opera to play out pretty straight. Jezibaba's Act I conjuration apart, there is no magic; in Act II the Vodnik simply mixes with the other guests of the ball. There is, of course, no water but Loy does not really use his theatre metaphor strongly enough to make us feel that this is the linking element. In Act II, in the original, it is the water in the palace gardens which allows the Vodnik to appear. What we get are a set of strong personal interactions, Loy's concept forms a strong frame for powerful performances from the principals.