La traviata

La traviata

When Verdi unveiled La traviata as a “subject of our time”, he hoped this salacious tale would receive a performance in modern dress for its première at La Fenice. Instead, the censors introduced a distancing effect by moving the action back to the 1700s, thus reducing the work’s impact as a critique of contemporary life. Robert Carsen’s production acknowledges Verdi’s wish by placing the action in a contemporary setting and providing a contemporary message to boot. Though this interpretation has enjoyed repeated success, first reopening La Fenice in 2004 after it burnt down for the third time in its history, and now in its fourth cycle in ten years, there were aspects of this performance that didn’t always work