“If you think about it, we still don’t know who is tricking who”
Marcelina, La Nozze Di Figaro
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Figaro is an Upstairs Downstairs comedy where we’re never sure whose on which floor. The opera shows the classic misrule of the servant outsmarting the master, but also complicates it. The women outsmart the men (upstairs downstairs across gender lines) The masters set traps for their servants. Everyone outsmarts everyone, which in turn makes everyone pretty dumb.
I set the production in a whimsical Newport Mansion with a giant hedge maze in the front lawn. I liked the idea of a maze as an extremely silly display of wealth. Imagine paying a staff of gardeners to maintain something that you get lost within. In researching Newport, I came across the Vanderbilt’s ‘Marble House’, and found that the contrast between a bright pink marble and green foliage brought to mind the bright mania of Figaro’s iconic overture.
Most importantly in this design I wanted to create something that made me smile. I decided the joy of listening to the opera should permeate all parts of my design process.
