A game of seduction, which takes place in a restaurant/stage and where Mozart's music merges with gastronomy, are the ingredients of the «Opera Buffa» that the Belgian companies Laika and Muziektheater Transparant will bring to Faro next June. Don Giovanni is the host and head chef and it is through the palate that this eternal seducer will tempt the souls and stomachs of spectators.
The show was presented on Friday at the venue that will host the initiative on June 8,9 and 10, the Algarve Hotel and Tourism School, in Faro.
The cloisters of this former convent will give a special framework to a piece that has already started to travel around the world, but which will have its absolute first nationally in the Algarve capital.
Each of the three performances of the play will have a maximum capacity for 200 spectators. These are also guests of the dinner that will be served. It is during this meal that the action unfolds, punctuated by pauses, where diners can devote themselves to tasting the dishes presented to them, which are also part of the show.
Designed for a closed room, this opera will have an innovative format in its passage through the Algarve. In addition to developing outdoors, it will also have the attractiveness of joining Orquestra do Algarve to the usual trio of musicians that accompany the cast. EHTA's students and teachers will also give an Algarve touch to the show.
The piece by what is considered by many to be the greatest musical genius ever serves as the basis for the show, but does not define it. This will not be seen, warned the musical director of «Opera Buffa» Jan Van Outryve, as a presentation of the opera Don Giovanni, but rather as «a musical theater», inspired by the score by Mozart. In other words, the music of this famous work is present, but it was often adapted and the order of the arias changed.
«A good example is a scene in which one of the characters chases Leporello (Don Giovanni's teacher) with a knife, which exists in the original score, but is almost always removed, as it is too funny. We took the music for the first sword fighting scene from the original score and adapted it to this scene,” revealed Jan Van Outryve.
This show is, moreover, far from being a conventional opera. The jocular aspect is present in the original score of the work by Mozart, who, at the time he composed it, classified it as Opera Bufa, but it is rarely highlighted and is even often discouraged by those who lead the scene.
The story of the seducer, a type of character we usually associate with the name Don Juan, is full of humorous adventures, the result of the jealousy he arouses in his many lovers and, obviously, the hatred he arouses in those who married them or to whom they are betrothed .
The company Laika, whose nickname is Teatro dos Sentidos, has been working on the theme of art related to gastronomy for a long time. They have already had several visits to the Algarve, the most notable being the inauguration of Teatro Tempo de Portimão. Also to register an artistic residency at Fábrica da Cerveja, in Faro, a few years ago.
Audience is invited to enjoy a very different experience
More than telling the story focusing on an unusual angle, the way this piece is presented on stage defines the real difference from what is conventional. The interpreters are, at the same time, the employees who serve the spectators in this dinner-concert.
In other words, those who watch the show are part of the stage and are literally on stage. They are not invited to sing or play, but participate in the meal prepared by Don Giovanni and his team, in a kitchen that is also part of the setting, with openings that allow the public to see how the dishes are being prepared.
An idea of what this contribution of Portuguese chefs and their pupils could be was given at the presentation of the initiative, on Friday. The challenge launched by co-director and creator of the play Peter de Bie was to create a menu based on the idea of a game of seduction. From here, what can be considered a unique artistic production was created.
The noble facilities of the Algarve Hotel School helped to create the atmosphere, but the real protagonists were the different and original delicacies that the different teams of students created for the event. Strong flavors and colors, like passion, so linked to the story that Mozart tells us in “Don Giovanni”.
Although the piece is only presented in Faro, his visit to the region is the responsibility of the cultural network «Movimenta-te», created within the scope of the Algarve Central network of cities, which brings together Faro. Loulé, Olhão, São Brás de Alportel and Tavira. «We wanted to concentrate the initiative in a territory and invite all who live here to come to Faro, to watch», illustrated the programmer of this network Giacomo Scalisi.
The director of the Municipal Theater of Faro Anabela Afonso even made a point of praising the synergies created between various institutions, namely the municipalities involved, EHTA and also Turismo do Algarve, without which «certainly this show would not have been possible».
All photos were taken from the official website of the company Laika www.laika.be
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