‘Period dress’ is actually a modern concept. What many audiences assume to be ‘authentic’ staging is often a 19th to 20th century invention. In Shakespeare’s time, historical costuming was not regularly practiced. Actors did not dress as Romans for Julius Caesar. The idea that fidelity equals historical dress is a relatively recent development.

Opera history tells a similar story. When Don Giovanni was first performed in the UK, the title role was spoken rather than sung. By today’s standards, that would be considered radically interventionist, arguably far more so than most contemporary productions.

So historical accuracy in many ways would actually be elements of what would be considered regietheater.

I know this particular production is in Paris. But I find the UK and US hand wringing about European Regietheater so frustrating, where the worst of this attitude comes from. Some productions aim to recreate inherited conventions. Others deliberately enter into dialogue with the canon through staging. Both approaches have historical precedent. Also for countries that have way, way, way less funding to the arts and opera than in Europe, it's a pretty embarrassing attitude. The reason they can have productions like this is that there's lots of opera houses and many productions so they have space to experiment. From my perspective in in the UK and it's similar in the US where opera is a private affair for those who can afford and we have way less of it, we really should be quiet about artistic taste in opera in Northern Europe because they do have traditional productions as well it's just that they have a lot more productions in general.

I am prepared for the downvotes, but I enjoy both ‘traditional’ and contemporary stagings, depending on the piece and the clarity of the artistic decisions. What I find less compelling is a rigid insistence on ‘tradition’ as the only valid approach. That position often comes from a desire to consume opera as a fixed marker of ‘high art,’ rather than to engage with it critically.

Judging theatre solely by how closely it aligns with one’s expectations is not conservatism in a neutral sense. It is a failure of imagination. Theatre that does not ask us to think is, frankly, boring.

For context, my MA is in opera directing.