Today was an exciting day at the Opera of Flanders workshop: I saw the scenography for ‘L’heure Espagnol’ come to life for the first time!
Under the watchful eye of the creative and technical team, we assembled and tested the set. This was supervised by the safety coordinator of the opera, who assessed if the opera as we envisaged it can be performed with the highest safety standards.
The opera ‘L’heure Espagnol’, described as a comédie musicale, tells the story of a clockmaker’s unfaithful wife who attempts to make love to several men while her husband is away, leading the men to hide in, and eventually get stuck in, her husband's clocks. One character, a strong but kind man, is instructed by the clockmaker’s wife to carry standing clocks up and down to her bedroom as a means of discreet transportation for her lovers.
I designed a modular set, built up out of several basic geometrical shapes, that represents the face of a large clock when the shapes are placed together. The elements are made out of lightweight aluminum covered with a thin layer in wood. Each of them is color stained to represent the rich array of wood used in an artisanal’s clockmaker workshop.
Freestanding elements will be used throughout the Opera and two elements representing the ‘grandfather clock’ will be carried around on set.
This production had been scheduled to premier in the Ghent Opera last July. Due to the pandemic it was postponed to December 2021.
Composer: Maurice Ravel
Libretto: Franc-Nohain
Direction: Tom Goossens
Scenography: Conrad Willems
Dramaturgy: Lalina Goddard
Costumes: Marij De Brabandere