Utne Reader

(via Designboom)

Under the artistic direction of David Pountney, stage designer David Fielding brings the opera “André Chénier” to life for the “Opera on the Lake” floating stage (‘Seebühne’) of the 2011 Bregenz Opera Festival in Bregenz, Austria.

The waterproofed set is built directly into Lake Constance, mounted upon a concrete core anchored into the base of the lake, while wooden poles support accessory structures of the stage. Fielding’s design for “André Chénier” is dominated by an oversized face and torso—modeled after the revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat—from whose left eye streams a series of stairways. An open book to stage right of the figure is frequently highlighted throughout the performance with special lighting effects, ranging from sculptural installations to elaborate gobos that cast shadow scenes along its pages. At water level, a floating platform, “carried” by what appears to be the hand of the statue, moves in response to plot action. Other mobile set pieces rise in and out of the water over the course of the performance.