Magnificence

Opera and theatre may be closely related, but they cannot usually be judged according to the same criteria; in the case of opera, our response to the text is mediated and modified by its most obvious defining characteristic: the artifice of singing. Yet the late Patrice Chéreau’s production of Elektra, which opened recently at the Staatsoper, was the rare example of a staging that succeeded equally as a work of operatic and theatrical drama. It was, quite simply, an emotionally devastating realisation of the story, brought to life by something close to a modern-day dream cast.

Mr Chéreau’s staging, which had its première at the Aix-en-Provence festival and has since appeared at La Scala and the Met, seemed to come from a place untouched by current trends in opera direction. There were no dancers or doppelgängers, no self-consciously…