From Richard Wagner to Kate Winslet: an Autumn of Scandals & Stars

Milo Rau’s Flying Dutchman splits Germany

“Boos and cheers” greeted Milo Rau’s take on Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman at the German Opera House Berlin, igniting the autumn’s fiercest theatre debate about the “limits of art”.

The press was split. The taz hailed the interpretation’s „clever dramaturgy„, while the FAZ  saw „absurd anti-art“ and the Jüdische Allgemeine even a „grotesque reckoning with Israel„.

The New York Times devoted an extensive feature to the production, revealing the pressure exerted by the Berlin Senate and the Israeli Embassy: „Can artists in Germany speak freely about Israel? This opera tests the limits.“

The artistic director of the German Opera, Aviel Cahn, spoke in an interview about the “unprecedented interference” on his institution: “This fuels anti-Semitism more than it combats it.”

Milo Rau himself said today to NZZ: “The  lesson to be learnt from Germany’s history can be that one must follow a radical humanism, that is, oppose all war crimes. The rest is noise.”

Kate Winslet and Brian Cox star in The Pelicot Trial

Meanwhile, the news that Kate Winslet, Brian Cox, Tobias Menzies and Indira Varma, amongst many other leading actors, will perform in the UK premiere of The Pelicot Trial in London on 30 November is spreading like wildfire across the international media.

The performance at the Young Vic in London sold out within minutes, but Milo Rau and Servane Dècle’s acclaimed play about the trial of Gisèle Pelicot will be available to watch worldwide via live stream, as The Gardian announces.

The production has already been invited to over 20 countries, was broadcast on television in Serbia, was published in France, Germany and the Czech Republic and voted Play of the Year in Poland. After UK, the play will continue its tour in Europe and Latin America.

Milo Rau will be visiting England ahead of the UK premiere, where a special focus will be placed on his work at the University of Oxford: „A rare opportunity to hear directly from one of contemporary theatre’s most provocative voices.“