Soup, Soap and Salvation: Erling E. Guldbrandsen assesses a radical new approach to ‘Tannhäuser’

Stefan Herheim’s undeniably brilliant Tannhäuser seduces in both visual and musical terms – yet constantly raises new questions. The production is in every sense situated in Oslo. Not only was it originally planned for the opening of Oslo’s new opera house in April 2008 – a plan that was sabotaged by technical problems – but also the stage pictures are taken from Oslo, from the streets around the new opera house and from inside the building itself. The Wartburg society becomes the modern Salvation Army, while the Venusberg is turned into a world of operatic seduction. Both of these transformations generate new insights as well as problems.