Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei, a well-known human rights defender, makes his debut in Rome on Tuesday with the staging of Giacomo Puccini's opera, “Turandot”, marked by bloodshed and despotism.
The new geopolitical approach to Puccini's unfinished opera, about death, hatred and revenge, with Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv, is very topical.
From the sinister five opening notes, the audience is immersed in an uncertain and violent world.
Ai Weiwei, 64, famous for its installations, gigantic sculptures and striking photographs that denounce torture and atrocities, gives the viewer no respite.
The presence on the podium of the Ukrainian Lyniv also reminds us that war and suffering haunt Europe.
“It is not in our imagination that we are in the midst of a conflict,” Ai Weiwei acknowledges in a talk with journalists last week, discussing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“It's just that right now there are people who are in the middle of a battle in Europe. More than three million Ukrainians have fled because of the war provoked by Russia,” he regretted.
- The omnipresent threat -
Puccini's dark opera tells the story of a cruel Chinese princess who demands that her suitors answer three riddles if they want to marry her and if they don't succeed, they will die.
In the version conceived by the Chinese artist, refugees appear, sacrificial victims, who connect the viewer with the threatening climate of these days.
Behind the scenes, on the ruins of a futuristic city, Ai Weiwei projects distressing images taken from recent news stories: hospital workers masked and covered in protective suits, refugees crossing icy rivers, riot police confronting demonstrators from Hong Kong, or immigrants surrounded by fences barbed wire.
In the third act, while the choir sings “we are lost”, images of repression, clubs and tear gas invade the screen and hearts.
For Lyniv, 44, Ai Weiwei's strong visual symbolism fits perfectly with Puccini's intentions.
“From the earliest stages the apocalyptic character is felt,” Lyniv says about the work that Puccini was unable to complete due to his death in 1924.
Lyniv, who went down in history in January as the first woman in charge of a lyrical theater in Italy, that of Bologna, is originally from Brody, about 100 kilometers east of Lviv.
The music told that several members of the Odessa orchestra, dance corps and choir are defending the city besieged by Russian troops.
Without a “happy ending”, as Puccini's contemporary Franco Alfano intended, Ai Weiwei's Turandot leaves the viewer free to decide the epilogue, to choose one's own destiny.
Ask about “what role do you want to play in this society”: that of the tyrannical princess Turandot, that of Prince Calaf willing to risk or that of Liu, who sacrifices himself for love, sums up Lyniv.
ams-kv/mb
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