Germany Massenet, Werther: Soloists, Children’s and Youth Chorus, Oldenburg State Theatre; Oldenburg State Orchestra / Vito Cristofaro (conductor). Oldenburg State Theatre, 27.2.2026. (DM-D)
The design team abandoned any idea of scenic realism for this production of Werther. The stage space, designed by Dominique Wiesbauer, was delimited by black curtains. On the floor, a rectangle from ramp to back wall, and quite close to the sides, demarcated the space for the action: while in a scene, characters stayed within that confine. White LED lights in the shape of round doorways came down from the fly tower or from behind the black curtains to signify doors through which the characters may enter or exit the rectangular playing area. A roof was located above the stage, arranged in such a way that its relation to the floor below could be changed in multiple ways, so as to appear in parallel to the floor, at different heights above the floor, and frequently at an angle, rising from the back of the stage. Depending on the ceiling’s position, the space for the characters ranged from quite open to narrow and claustrophobic. A round hole was located in the middle of the ceiling, through which, at different times throughout the performance, rain came down in the shape of reddish pellets. Steff Flächsenhaar’s lighting design brought the black and white of the set further into relief. In this black and white space, Valerie Hirschmann’s costumes stood out through their unusual combination of colours, with strong green for Albert, pink for Charlotte, bright blue for Sophie, and yellow for Werther.
Kai Anne Schuhmacher’s production interpreted Johann and Schmidt as creatures who were more than merely the human friends of Charlotte’s father: in addition, and much more importantly for the opera, they became supernatural beings, with small wings on their backs, thus possibly angels. They wielded some magic influence over their like, making the children from the first scene of the opera, who had turned into further winged creatures for the remainder of the opera, fall asleep or making them wake up and move about. They went about their business unseen by the humans, and it was not quite clear whether they had any influence over them, or what their purpose in relation to the plot may have been. Their existence added to the alienation created by the abstract black and white set and the colourful costumes.
The production was presented with two casts each for Werther, Charlotte and Sophie, and different constellations, all but one of the tenors cast as Werther from the resident company. For the performance I saw, resident company tenor Jason Kim sang Werther. Given the sheer strength and power of Kim’s voice, conductor Vito Cristofaro could unleash the orchestra to the full strength of expressing musically the character’s emotional turmoil without any fear of drowning the voice. For Werther, voice and orchestra soared throughout in unison at the highest levels of intensity – the unemotional, cool design proved an almost necessary or welcome counterbalance to that immense impact of passion. Dorothee Bienert did not show any signs of still recovering from a cold (as announced before the curtain went up). Her Charlotte matched the passion of Kim and the orchestra in her own way, with a very rich, warm and velvety sound. Stephanie Hershaw’s Sophie was on the same high level of commitment, her bright, silvery soprano contrasted well with that of Bienert. Arthur Bruce gave Albert a strong profile through his acting skills and his robust, sonorous voice. Seungweon Lee was funny and sang well as Charlotte and Sophie’s father, the Bailiff, and Seumas Begg and Irakli Atanelishvili were in turns funny and sinister as his friends and the winged creatures.
Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe
Featured Image: Anna Dowsley (Charlotte) © Stephan Walzl
Production:
Director – Kai Anne Schuhmacher
Sets – Dominique Wiesbauer
Costumes – Valerie Hirschmann
Lighting – Steff Flächsenhaar
Children’s chorus director – Marija Jokovic
Dramaturgy – Antje Müller
Cast:
Werther – Jason Kim
Charlotte – Dorothee Bienert
Albert – Arthur Bruce
Sophie – Stephanie Hershaw
Bailiff – Seungweon Lee
Johann – Irakli Atanelishvili
Schmidt – Seumas Begg
Käthchen – Daniela Köhler
Brühlmann – Andreas Lütje