Billy Budd Triumphs at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma

Deborah Warner's production of Benjamin Britten's 'Billy Budd' premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, a co-production with the Royal Opera House London and Teatro Real Madrid that previously won an International Opera Award. Based on Melville's story, with a libretto by E.M. Forster and Eric Crozier, the opera is set on the HMS Indomitable. Michael Levine's set design transforms the stage into a claustrophobic ship's belly with ropes, ladders, and tilting platforms. Warner's direction emphasizes ambiguity and repressed passions. She adds a pictorial reference to David's 'Marat' for Captain Vere. In a departure from the libretto, Billy's execution becomes a poetic, secular ascension rather than an offstage event. The production premiered in Rome in 2018.