Catalogue
English

Teatro Comunale, ''The Magic Flute''

Bologna

«The Magic Flute is the opera of ambiguity, where there are continuously at least two doors to go through, where the light is partly contained in the night and vice versa.»All the quotes are taken from Director's notes by Luigi De AngelisThe staging highlights some unusual elements.Papageno and the three child-spirits have smaller dimensions compared to the background ...
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... which is displayed on a large Rear-projection screen made with the film RNO - Notturno.And the rear projection is unnatural, because it highlights the chromatic split (red and cyan channels) ...
... typical of 3D projections performed with the anaglyph method.Furthermore, something strange happens on the periphery of the projection, which shows a moving and variable frame, that tightens and widens ...
... with a polygonal contour.During the representation it is clarified that these are the blades of a giant optical diaphgram.But that's not all: like in the famous film by Ingmar Bergman from which the Ravenna theater company that created this staging takes its name ...
... the stage is observed from the outside as if it were a puppet theater.«The ouverture of Bergman's film, at the center of which are the faces of the spectators listening in raptures, is animated with the cinematographic technique of the anaglyph, which highlights the role of active witness of each individual spectator.»To be displayed properly ...
... the anaglyph needs special corrective glasses, with which the viewer becomes part of the same world that children overlook:«We are contained in their gaze, they appear giants to us.From the outside they open and close curtains, wings, diaphragms, constantly changing the stage space, following the trend of the music, placing fantastic, illusory objects inside.»The background screen is bordered ...
... by four large Metal frames made of aluminum (two are trapezoidal and two are rectangular).The frames have been covered with red COS - Oscurante 18. cloth, which uses the plush and light-absorbing surface, which does not produce reflections even when subjected to a considerable luminous flux.The children:«... they used monochrome fabrics to build a stylized scenography ...»
«... and cut out figures, invent a fairy tale.Let's imagine that we are spectators and are contained in the hall of that theater, subscribers or patrons who want to see the opera.We are part of the same world that the two children overlook, from their Realm.»The scenography by Luigi De Angelis and Nicola Fagnani used a total of 38 backdrops made of COS - Oscurante cloth of various shapes and sizes, some of which were decidedly large.
Singspiel in two acts
Music
First night
Vienna, Theater auf der Wieden, 30/9/1791

Scenography,
light design
Luigi De Angelis
and Nicola Fagnani
Costume design
Technical direction
Luca Gandini
Stage direction
Luigi De Angelis

Staging
Teatro Comunale of Bologna
Season
2015

Materials used in this production

9TM - Metal frames

Frames for stagecraft

COS - Oscurante

Duvetyne and blackout fabrics

Flat making

Fabric: tailoring types

Flats

Frames for stagecraft

Rear-projection screens

Rear-projection screens

RNO - Notturno

Rear-projection films

Information on data processing