The end of the world in three acts

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In 1940, Kurt Weill declared: ‘The great “classical” composers wrote for their contemporary audience: they wanted those who listened to them to understand them, and they succeeded. As for me, I write for today. I don't give a damn about posterity.’ Seventy-five years after the composer's death, it is clear that his gamble paid off because his creations continue to be perceived as contemporary, particularly those born out of his troubled collaboration with Brecht in the years leading up to the Second World War. We discuss this with Irina Brook, who made her debut at La Scala in 2021 with her productions of The Seven Deadly Sins and Mahagonny, and who now returns to the theatre with a third piece from that trio, Happy End.

LIANA PÜSCHEL How do you remember your debut at La Scala during lockdown?
IRINA BROOK It is one of my fondest memories. It was something extraordinary and light-hearted, because it was my first experience on the stage of La Scala and there was no audience, no risk of boos or criticism. We could work without pressure. It was the best premiere of my life, and I was able to watch it on my TV in my living room! At that particular moment, with theatres going through so many financial difficulties, I was pleased to be working on operas that tell a story of dystopian misery, truly the end of the world as we know it. It was a very experimental production, very poor, with recycled materials and second-hand clothes; we had a small platform with a set in the middle of the stage created for the RAI cameras. For me, it was beautiful and fascinating to look at that small, poor stage inside La Scala, a space of incredible beauty, all gold and red velvet. I found the contrast captivating.

LP That was the first time you worked with Riccardo Chailly, with whom you then worked again last season on La rondine and now again on the Weill/Brecht Trittico. What is your collaboration like?
IB It's really magical because he's one of the world's greatest conductors and when we work together there's a real creative and artistic exchange. We talk on the phone a lot and meet to discuss the project, the images and the set design. We have a privileged relationship. For example, I can ask him to change something in the rhythm of the songs for staging reasons. If the request is justified, creative and intelligent, he not only accepts but is also happy to do so, because he understands the artistic essence of the stories. On certain occasions, the Maestro even offers me some staging suggestions, which I always agree with because he understands my vision perfectly. This relationship is fantastic for me.

LP In your return to La Scala, you will also be working with most of the 2021 cast.
IB When I arrived, my first day at the theatre was a joy because I was reunited with many singers, who are all nice and talented. But it was also nice to see the stagehands, stage manager and technicians in the rehearsal room, so many people I know from previous operas. Instead of a cold room with strangers who don't know each other, it was nice to feel like family right from the start. When I'm in the theatre, that's the only way I work, but in opera it never happens.

LP In your original production, The Seven Deadly Sins and Mahagonny were two episodes of the same story. Will Happy End now be added to that story?
IB This is a completely new production. From the outset, the key condition for me was to create a single show, not three separate operas to be performed on the same evening. I had to invent a new story that would hold everything together in a credible and logical way. In the end, I imagined the story of a theatre company at the end of the world: while they are inside the theatre, there is nothing left outside.

LP Where did this idea come from?
IB From a conviction that has accompanied me since the beginning of my career: I always use videos and other technological means (which I like) with moderation because there is a sort of inner law within me that pushes me to cultivate traditional solutions, in the belief that one day technology could stop working after a huge blackout. In that situation, the only thing that would continue to function would be human creativity. What I find incredibly beautiful about theatre is that all you need to put on a show is people telling a story by candlelight. This is what happened in the time of cavemen. We can still create stories out of nothing. This image plays a very strong role in the creation of the Weill Trilogy; everything revolves around this philosophy.

LP How did you work with the artists?
IB It was important for me to create a group. To achieve this, we did something unusual in this type of theatre: we put all the singers together every day, in all the rehearsals, even ones in which they were acting not singing. From the very beginning, I asked the singers, even the most famous ones, the actors and the dancers to stay together in the rehearsal room to form a real company, a bit like Brecht's.

LP Happy End began as a musical comedy set in the world of gangsters and the Salvation Army. Weill considered the plot too weak and wanted to change it radically. What do you think?
IB When the theatre asked me to do Happy End, Chailly immediately told me that he didn't want the theatrical part, only the songs. I have thought about the original Happy End at other times in my career and every time I have read it, I have found that the story isn't particularly brilliant. I am a huge fan of Brecht (he is one of my favourite playwrights, along with Shakespeare and Chekhov), but this play is not up to the standard of the rest of his work. The songs, on the other hand, are brilliant. So Chailly's challenge seemed wonderful to me. The content of the songs is a logical continuation of what is told in The Seven Deadly Sins and Mahagonny. Everything is coherently linked: it's like telling a story in three different styles, with a very minimalist conclusion.

LP Are the themes addressed by Brecht and Weill still relevant today?
IB Yes, and this third part speaks particularly clearly about today and all the world's catastrophes: it's a perfect conclusion. I think the reason for this is that Brecht poured all his convictions into the lyrics, while the surrounding story served only to convey the message more simply. In fact, the lyrics are what matter, not the gangster story. The trilogy addresses all of today's problems: we don't do enough for others, we only think about ourselves and our daily deadlines, forgetting about the disasters of the world. I am excited by the opportunity to talk about such topical issues but with a certain distance and, above all, with music that is beautiful, catchy, full of dance rhythms, in the style of a musical comedy. It is truly joyful music. There is a unique and fascinating contrast between the style of the music and that of the lyrics. If I did a show in which a group of environmentalists shouted their beliefs from the stage, no one would come; but by doing this show in which the ideas are sublimated, perhaps some message gets across, at least I hope so!

Liana Püschel
With a PhD in Modern World Cultures and Literature, Liana focuses on research, teaching and education in the field of musicology.