Wernicke's Mirror
In the case of Wernicke’s production, the mirror stands as the main motive always as its background. It has different meanings for this production. As I already mentioned, the mirror background reflects the different images of Vienna, singers on the stage and the audience. At the first scene, the mirror is directed forward and reflects the stage and the audience. But soon later, it turns inside and reflects the image of historical red bedroom of the Marschallin on it. At the end of the first act, this image vanishes and the mirror reflects again the stage and the audience. The waving surface make the audience to know our transient existence in the world as images. In the ritual of the silver rose in the second act, the center of this mirror
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Konwitschny interprets the first act as the time period before the modernization, when human still had intimate relationship each other. All musician of the orchestra including the conductor, Ingo Metzmacher wear also costumes with wigs like Mozart and some times they sing and act with figures on the stage together. There is only the big round simple red bed in the center as the stage for figures like a small amphitheater surrounded by orchestra. However, the stage design and costumes are made not completely in the rococo style, but in the surrealistic and grotesque rococo style. Figures on the stage follow not historical designs by Roller, but are more kitsch. At this point, figures are different from Ochs, the true rococo figure. Octavian and Marschallin appear in the same costume like corset for women and pants for men. Their relationship is described as the homosexual relationship because Octavian is acted as a woman, but their sex is here described completely regardless. The Marschallin appears also in a men’s suit in the third act. The relationship between the young negro and the Marschallin is so intimate that he sits on the Marschallin as a small child. Gests are also packed to this small stage. Konwitschny reflected ironically a nostalgic glance of modern time to the past time of the eighteenth century on this
Konwitschny interprets the first act as the time period before the modernization, when human still had intimate relationship each other. All musician of the orchestra including the conductor, Ingo Metzmacher wear also costumes with wigs like Mozart and some times they sing and act with figures on the stage together. There is only the big round simple red bed in the center as the stage for figures like a small amphitheater surrounded by orchestra. However, the stage design and costumes are made not completely in the rococo style, but in the surrealistic and grotesque rococo style. Figures on the stage follow not historical designs by Roller, but are more kitsch. At this point, figures are different from Ochs, the true rococo figure. Octavian and Marschallin appear in the same costume like corset for women and pants for men. Their relationship is described as the homosexual relationship because Octavian is acted as a woman, but their sex is here described completely regardless. The Marschallin appears also in a men’s suit in the third act. The relationship between the young negro and the Marschallin is so intimate that he sits on the Marschallin as a small child. Gests are also packed to this small stage. Konwitschny reflected ironically a nostalgic glance of modern time to the past time of the eighteenth century on this