“Ilaria Lanzino turns Gasparini’s baroque Ambleto at the MusikTheater an der Wien into a modern psychological thriller. You couldn’t stage it any more boldly or uncompromisingly even as a play: Out of jealousy over his mother Gertrude’s remarriage, Hamlet drags the entire family into the abyss. Unlike Shakespeare’s version, there is no fratricide, nothing to uncover, and no revenge to take. But Hamlet cannot accept his mother’s newfound happiness with Claudius. And the cast performs with gripping intensity.

A powerful production.”

Oper! Magazin

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“Honestly, who hasn’t checked the time during the umpteenth repetition of an aria in a Baroque opera? You won’t do that during Francesco Gasparini’s Ambleto at the Theater an der Wien. Guaranteed. What director Ilaria Lanzino makes out of this 1705 Hamlet opera is as thrilling as a Hitchcock film and as bloody as a crime novel by Scandinavian master of horror Jo Nesbø. (…) Lanzino reconstructs the action from the surviving arias. The lost recitatives are replaced with adapted fragments from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, reworked by Lanzino herself. Each character has their own offstage speaking voice. The concept works very well theatrically. The setting is a modern house (set design: Martin Hickmann). Lanzino directs her characters with precision. (…)

A phenomenal music theatre experience.”

Kurier

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“A must-see (…) In general, things get intense in Ilaria Lanzino’s direction, which turns what remains of Francesco Gasparini’s opera seria Ambleto into a family tragedy of our century. (…) Lanzino’s staging shines with thoughtful, meticulous character work and both fascinates and shocks with graphic imagery: an abundance of blood, accentuated acoustically during axe attacks; and as Hamlet’s vision, an explicit blowjob between Gertrude and Claudius, followed by Hamlet’s ‘real’ rape of Ophelia. (…) Surprisingly, the intense scenes never clash with the music, which instead provides an emotional window into the characters’ souls and creates a compelling, almost harmonious contrast. (…) Both visually and musically clever. (…) Lanzino turns Ophelia into the true heroine of the piece: the faithful partner who still sees the good in her lover and supports him, even as others warn her. She is also the one to end the relationship (not the other way around) when she recognizes its failure. Appropriately, she is given the famous “To be or not to be” monologue. Ophelia lies in a blood-soaked bathtub when she decides against suicide and becomes her family’s avenger: in a supposed love duet, she stabs the killer Hamlet.

The impact is clear:

thunderous applause, even for the directing team.”

OPERN.NEWS

 

“Gasparini’s opera is shaped by Ilaria Lanzino into a modern family drama. Netflix-style aesthetics that had the baroque-loving house erupting with excitement on Tuesday. (…) Lanzino places these suddenly disturbingly contemporary characters firmly in the present. (…) A stroke of genius (…)

An outstanding overall impression.”

Salzburger Nachrichten

 

“A horror trip at the Theater an der Wien (…) Family? Difficult, usually difficult. At first, spatially close and emotionally distant. Later, often the reverse. Not only Heimito von Doderer knew: whoever enters family ends up perishing in it. There’s plenty wrong even among the filthy-rich royals of Denmark. And Ophelia is already lying in a bathtub smeared with blood during the opening Sinfonia of Francesco Gasparini’s Ambleto at the Theater an der Wien. A horror! What happened?

Act One: three weeks earlier. In a seductive silk nightgown, Ophelia serenades her lover Hamlet. He wears filthy tennis socks and is off balance. His father died not long ago, and his mother Gertrude wants to marry his uncle Claudius. A family dinner with the soon-to-be couple is coming up, with Laertes and Polonius, Ophelia’s brother and father, also attending. Hamlet’s hatred for the whole clan escalates to toxic levels. Soon, it’s: a man goes berserk. (…)

In Lanzino’s staging, Gertrude and Claudius care for the sickly old king with considerable devotion. Hamlet’s spiral into rage and violence seems intrinsically motivated. The splatter opera that Ambleto becomes takes place in a purist, clean-lined home, made fully visible thanks to the rotating stage (set: Martin Hickmann). The gorgeous costumes by Vanessa Rust are, by the end, drenched in blood.

And in this era of gender equality, Ophelia isn’t allowed to simply descend into madness. The director has her strike back: Hamlet, the wedding crasher, dies to sweet music. Bloody applause.”

Der Standard

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“At the height of the drama, there it is: that special music theatre moment. ‘This is how I show you my loyalty,’ sings Erika Baikoff as the deeply shaken Ophelia to her beloved Hamlet. She calmly and decisively pierces him with a giant kitchen knife — releasing him from his bloody rampage. (…) Powerful imagery (…)

A clever direction.”

Kronen Zeitung

 

“Vividly acted, highly dramatic, bloody (…)

In the very first scene, we see Ophelia, drenched in blood, screaming from the bathtub — a scream that chills the soul and announces a first-order tragedy. And that’s exactly what unfolds — with a few changes to Shakespeare (Ophelia is a self-aware, independent woman and Hamlet’s lover from the start), but one thing is clear: the mother’s hasty marriage to the uncle after the father’s death stirs Hamlet’s vengeful feelings. And by the end, nearly everyone is dead — Ophelia stabs Hamlet, who had killed her father, while lovingly embracing him (and he lets it happen). As she sings her final lines in the bloody bathtub, Hamlet’s mother Gertrude, herself blood-smeared, joins her… The director spares no one — not even the audience.”

Online Merker

 

“The gaps in the score offer the opportunity for imaginative realization. (…) Lanzino and Pe approach it with marked creativity, both musically and scenically. The convoluted plot is trimmed and realigned toward Shakespeare, while told on Martin Hickmann’s rotating stage as a contemporary family tale. The major change is that Hamlet’s father isn’t murdered in a conspiracy: a flashback shows him dying of illness, lovingly cared for by his wife and brother, who find solace in each other. In Ambleto, the pain of loss morphs into rage and violence. Thus, Hamlet turns from a twisted wedding crasher into a rapist and mass murderer. (…) The production explores the inability to resolve conflict, toxic masculinity, and domestic violence — but also strong female figures who are not merely fleeting victims. (…)

Whether Gertrude succumbs to her wounds, whether she really survives — or whether she merely reappears as a vision to the dying Ophelia, who ultimately slits her wrists in the bathtub: who can say?

The rest is silence.”

Die Presse

 

“Bold, modern, imaginative.”

GN.at

 

“A contemporary family drama in a Nordic designer home (…) The acclaimed evening gives hope for a comeback of Ilaria Lanzino in the future”

Kleine Zeitung

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“Unconventional, bold, powerful, surprising.”

— Die Furche

 

“A brilliant stage interpretation by Italian director Ilaria Lanzino. Her direction of the characters is fantastic. With this production, the Theater an der Wien rightly enjoyed a major success.”

— Klassik Begeistert

 

“The director successfully staged a coherent drama because the cast portrayed real characters. Raffaele Pe as Hamlet — first the loving partner, then the psychopath. Ophelia — from insecure girl to avenger. Gertrude — struggling to let go of her son. Polonius — the caring father. Laertes — lascivious but empathetic. Claudius — simply seeking family peace. All of this is conveyed not just through words, but through psychologically authentic actions, without the usual operatic pantomime.”

— WDR

 

“A strong visual language, followed by long and thunderous applause.”

— Der neue Wiener

 

 

“The energy and commitment of the production are impressive. Spoken Shakespeare fragments cast intense spotlights on the characters’ souls, bridging the music and stage action. The result is as blood-drenched as Strauss’s Elektra or Bartók’s Bluebeard. In Martin Hickmann’s claustrophobic domestic labyrinth, Lanzino chillingly reveals human entanglements.”

— Falter.at

 

 

“It was a psychological thriller like no other — you feel like you’re watching a movie. The mix of intense psychodrama and Baroque music is fantastic, even for those who don’t usually enjoy horror. Super thrilling.”

— kulturknistern*

 

 

“The director gives it all. Violence and despair turn physical between characters — a blood-soaked frenzy on stage.”

— Van Magazin

 

“A ‘bloodbath among relatives’ could subtitle this new production of Ambleto at Theater an der Wien. It’s a brutally intense family affair that directors like Hitchcock or Lars von Trier would relish. Ilaria Lanzino stages the piece as a first-class blood shocker — a familial hell in the spirit of August Strindberg. Without the recitatives, the plot unfolds quickly, almost cinematically. Strong character direction and staging, with singers challenged dramatically. This kind of music theater resonated strongly with the young audience on May 12 — their enthusiastic, loud applause said it all.”

— Simply Classic

 

“A successful experiment — a fascinating, fresh opera experience.”

— Kulturundwien

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