The opera Werther is based on a late 18th Century novel by Goethe and is frequently interpreted as a period Romantic era idyll about an obsessed poet infatuated with Nature and the tragic consequences of his love affair with a married woman. The music is lush and rhapsodic.

In our production the director jettisoned the romantic trappings and period setting and chose to create a parallel universe involving an unnamed protagonist living in the present. He’s isolated, obsessed, and emotionally disturbed, experiencing life vicariously through a digital avatar. An alternate state of consciousness was achieved through non-realistic staging techniques and an immersive use of projected dream imagery.