[ REHEARSAL NOTEBOOK ] DON GIOVANNI

Friday, 20 June 2025 — Grand Théâtre de Provence — Festival d’Aix-en-Provence

While outside, the scorching heat makes the city’s air quiver, the cool and welcoming penumbra of the Grand Théâtre de Provence causes eyes to blink upon entering the elegant amphitheatre. The stage and the auditorium produce the gentle buzz of a working beehive, each group attending to a specific task in preparation for the upcoming performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Sir Simon Rattle, the production’s music director, is speaking in the orchestra pit with his assistant Luca Guglielmi. At the same time, the videographer adjusts the projection to fit the contours of the set, while the sound designer tests the sound effects placed at key moments in the drama, to underline the intention behind the staging. The stage director, Robert Icke, is not yet present; he is rehearsing in the studio with Madison Nonoa and Paweł Horodyski, who play Zerlina and Masetto respectively. Robert Icke bases his stage direction on creative processes drawn from theatre rather than from the operatic world: the sessions on stage or in the studio aim, through dialogue with the singers, to understand their characters and define stage movement in harmony with their psychology, through gestures, movement, and the story the director wants to tell.

Meanwhile, on stage, close attention is being paid to the way the Commendatore, played by Clive Bayley, and Don Giovanni, portrayed by Andrè Schuen, will fight in the opening assassination scene. Together with choreographer Ann Yee and fight coordinator Ran Arthur Braun, Clive Bayley and Andrè Schuen exchange blows that look no less convincing than the shouts and gasps punctuating their struggle. Shortly afterwards, Clive Bayley learns how to fall in a manner both conveniently executed and chillingly believable, while Andrè Schuen rehearses the sequence of gestures that lead him to stab the Commendatore. The repeated fight rehearsals now turn to a duel between Don Giovanni and Masetto, revealing both the dynamic of subordination between them and the amorous rivalry that sets them at odds.

The stage is structured around a “box” that floats in the middle of the scenic space. This large rectangular parallelepiped, with surfaces that are alternately open or closed off by curtains, can move forwards or backwards, creating powerful, dramatic effects. The dimly lit lower space is bordered by a luminous path running along the front of the stage. There are murky corners at the rear, ominous metal bars on either side, and a monumental, mobile staircase at the centre, allowing singers to move between the suspended box and the stage proper.

After the break, Robert Icke goes back to the large production desk that extends across part of the central seating in the auditorium. The rehearsal resumes with the scene in which Leporello is recognised by all the characters, who mistake him for his master, in the middle of Act II. In Robert Icke's staging, the sublime sextet is blocked with the accusers in the upper part of the scenic space, the accused, Leporello, on stage, with Don Giovanni at his side.

Everyone agrees that Don Giovanni must be brought to justice, except for Donna Elvira, sung by Magdalena Kožená, who still worries about her unfaithful husband. In this marvellous ensemble, the radiant voice of Golda Schultz soars above the group, while Krzysztof Bączyk brings out the grotesque terror of Leporello with great virtuosity, and Magdalena Kožená tries to move the others with her heart-rending laments. Zerlina and Masetto then burst in, accompanied by an impressive forward motion of the set, and prevent Leporello from fleeing, dragging him up the grand staircase into the upper scenic space. But the sextet comes to a halt: the movement must be repeated again and again, as the stage technicians work to adjust the set’s mechanism. Rehearsals are already drawing to a close. The performers will be working late into the night. In a few days, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra) will take to the stage of the Grand Théâtre de Provence. Their arrival marks a milestone in the director's work, who will then hand over to Sir Simon Rattle.

François Delécluse