To start its season, the Theater Orchestra Bienne Solothurn (TOBS!) has chosen “The Marriage of Figaro”, one of Mozart’s most popular operas. Directed by Deborah Epstein, this production, on view until November 9, explores power and gender relations in a modern way.
An opera in four acts created in 1786, “The Marriage of Figaro” by Mozart is inspired by “The Crazy Day or the Marriage of Figaro” by Beaumarchais. Written in 1778, this play explores with humor the themes of love and jealousy, but above all denounces the unequal French society of the Ancien Régime a few years before the French Revolution.
In Mozart’s opera, the plot is as follows: Figaro and Suzanne are two servants about to get married. Count Almaviva who employs them wants to seduce the young woman and will do everything to cancel their wedding. But that’s without counting on Chérubin, a young page also serving the count, who continues to disrupt the latter’s plans.
A contemporary version
“The Marriage of Figaro” opens the 2024-2025 opera season of the Theater Orchestra Bienne Solothurn (TOBS!). Directed by Deborah Epstein, with sets and costumes by Florian Barth, the main roles are played by Benjamin Molonfalean (Figaro), Simon Schnorr (Count Almaviva), Rebekka Maeder (the Countess), Marlene Chevalley Knoepfler (Susanna) and Julia Deit-Ferrand (Cherubino). A vocal set accompanied by the Symphony Orchestra and the Biel Solothurn TOBS Choir! placed under the direction of Sébastien Rouland.
This new production aims to be modern while remaining faithful to the spirit of the work. So, if the first act begins today, the staging gradually evolves towards something more classic.
>> Listen to the topic “The Marriage of Figaro” at TOBS! :
A post #MeToo rereading
Deborah Epsein also wanted to update the message that emerges from this classic work. “The Count is a manipulative and seductive character who commits sexist and sexual violence. Today, we have a radically different perspective [sur ce type de comportements]”, indicates soloist Julia Deit-Ferrand, who plays the role of Chérubin, in the show L’écho des pavanes on September 21.
For his part, Chérubin is a Count Almaviva in the making. “Beneath his appearance as a friendly young teenager who loves all women, there is something very dangerous,” continues the soloist. “He is very young, but he is already making extremely violent comments.”
In this production, the characters of the Count and Chérubin are treated as a mirror, an element of the staging among others which allows new perspectives to be opened and offers a modern rereading of the questions of power and gender which are at issue. heart of this opera.
Radio subject: Sarah Neu
Adaptation web: aq
“The Marriage of Figaro”, opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, directed by Deborah Epsein. With Benjamin Molonfalean (Figaro), Simon Schnorr (Count Almaviva), Rebekka Maeder (the Countess), Marlene Chevalley-Knoepfler (Susanna) and Julia Deit-Ferrand (Cherubino), the Biel Solothurn Symphony Orchestra and Choir TOBS! To be seen alternately at the Municipal Theater Biel and the Municipal Theater Solothurn until November 9, 2024, then in a few other locations until December 20, 2024.
