“The Golden Fleece” – Selected reviews – Maria Sartova

Dziennik Teatralny Łódź 9.12.2016

(…) Contrary to what might be expected, the climate of the absurd that permeates each scene, rather than inciting the audience to complacent laughter, inspires profound reflection. (…)

Agata Białecka

Dziennik Teatralny 5.12.2016

(…) Tansman remains avant-garde, sweeping aside outdated provincial notions (…)

(…) Tansman tells a modern epic tale presenting a Utopia in a comic opera style which remains close to the Parisian tradition of the French Third Republic yet far removed from neo-Romantic or post-Wagnerian traditions. (…)

(…) In The Golden Fleece we hear the sounds of a city in the 1930s: the rhythms, musical styles and melodies of cultures from all over the world. All the ingredients are there: parody, farce, and a marked degree of levity underscored by an excellent orchestration. (…)

(…) In spite of all the talent deployed by Madariaga, everyone sings in chorus praising the Pays de Cocagne and everlasting bliss. The author of the libretto goes to great lengths to depict a situation of collective delusion. (…)

(…) The opera directed by Maria Sartova was one among a great many performances featuring at the 2016 Łódź Tansman Festival and gratified the audience with an outstanding production. Its scenic sobriety highlights the experimental nature of any Utopian endeavour. The perspective adopted in this stage production reproduces nothing and serves exclusively to project hypotheses. (…)

(…) Maria Sartova has built a spectacle in light strokes, regularly interspersed with traits of humour and hints of more ominous considerations regarding totalitarianism. She deftly exploits dismal chords with grotesque overtones. The choice of attributing an alter ego to each singer is an excellent idea and is extremely effective thanks to the choreography by Jaroslaw Staniek. (…)

(…) All the performers perfectly succeeded in playing with the music and enjoying it. (…)

(…) It is an outstanding opera (…)

Piotr Olkusz

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