A midsummer night’s dream‚ Scottish Opera & Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Financial Times (January 2013)
'The world conjured by music and words is that of the psyche – its way of playing tricks on our emotions‚ relationships and sense of reality... Olivia Fuchs’ deceptively simple staging‚ designed by Niki Turner with video by Jon Driscoll‚ was first mounted eight years ago for the Royal Opera’s Linbury Studio. It still looks fresh – partly because it scales up well in a bigger theatre‚ and partly because its benign veneer suits a young cast. Modern interpreters like to stress the opera’s murky underbelly of manipulation and abuse. Fuchs gives it a more light-hearted‚ though never superficial‚ quality. Forest and fairy world become a playground for the impulses of love‚ frailty and jealousy – as if the audience is having a mirror held up to itself‚ revealing how we humans make such fools of ourselves... the Britten centenary is off to a flying start'
A midsummer night’s dream‚ Scottish Opera & Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Herald Scotland (January 2013)
'The decision to restage Olivier Fuch’s Royal Opera studio production of Benjamin Britten’s opera in the composer’s centenary year for the annual collaboration between the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Scottish Opera was a superb one. Fuch’s staging‚ crisp and modern in a modular‚ neon and sharply-dressed way‚ and brilliantly eloquent‚ gives an ideal platform for the young singers'
Lucia di Lammermoor‚ Opera Holland Park
Opera (August 2012)
'Olivia Fuchs’s smart‚ simple staging...the action moved swiftly‚ one scene moving effortlessly into the next...'
Lucia di Lammermoor‚ Opera Holland Park
Classical Source.com (June 2012)
'Dark‚ scudding clouds and soughing winds added a chilly‚ Scottish zest to Olivia Fuchs’s admirably straightforward production...The Act Two sextet finale‚ in particular‚ burrowed deep into the opera’s romantic psyche...Highly recommended'
Lucia di Lammermoor‚ Opera Holland Park
Independent on Sunday (June 2012)
'...in Olivia Fuchs’s austere production for Opera Holland Park‚ the agony of Lucia’s lover‚ Edgardo‚ is as poignant as that of the bloodstained bride...an elegant and understated staging'
Lucia di Lammermoor‚ Opera Holland Park
London Evening Standard (June 2012)
'In truth‚ the threatening elements provided a rather fitting backdrop for Sir Walter Scott’s dark tale of bloody patriarchal oppression. Olivia Fuchs’s production‚ with Jamie Vartan’s economical designs‚ neatly points up the insidious social forces that conspire to rob Lucia of her happiness and sanity'
Lucia di Lammermoor‚ Opera Holland Park
MusicOMH.com (June 2012)
'...the opener to OHP’s 2012 season could hardly come more highly recommended'
Lucia di Lammermoor‚ Opera Holland Park
Oxford Times (June 2012)
'The 2012 season of Opera Holland Park is off to a splendid start with Olivia Fuchs’s unfussy new production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor'
Lucia di Lammermoor‚ Opera Holland Park
Stage (June 2012)
'Informal and affordable Opera Holland Park opens its festive summer event with Olivia Fuchs’s new production of Donizetti’s double tragedy. It’s among her best work‚ incisive as narrative‚ perceptive in characterisation...a thrilling evening'
Pelléas and Mélisande‚ Teatro Colón‚ Buenos Aires
Opera des dehoy.com (August 2011)
'Con una fuerte teatralidad que fue valorizada en la minimalista puesta de Olivia Fuchs. Moderna‚ pero a la vez fiel a la letra y espíritu sin abolir tampoco los símbolos'
Saul‚ Buxton Festival
Oxford Times (July 2011)
'...the well-drilled chorus in her highly satisfying Saul at Buxton Festival'
Saul‚ Buxton Festival
Telegraph (July 2011)
'Handel’s masterly oratorio Saul emerged more cogently in Olivia Fuchs’ inventive but ungimmicky staging‚ updated to post-war Washington DC'
The Magic Flute‚ Garsington
Express (June 2011)
'The temporary nature of the auditorium‚ flung up for the summer months only‚ may look a little ramshackle‚ but it is comfortable and well-equipped for the various tricks demanded by Olivia Fuchs’ imaginative staging'
The Magic Flute‚ Garsington
Observer on Sunday (June 2011)
'This new production by Olivia Fuchs‚ updated to an eclectic modernity which embraces leather and chains and a yogic ashram‚ worked hard to offer a fresh interpretion'
The Magic Flute‚ Garsington
Stage (June 2011)
'Olivia Fuchs’ Magic Flute is equally bold in concept‚ brilliantly conceived in visual terms'
Fidelio‚ Opera Holland Park
Classical Source.com (July 2010)
'Opera Holland Park continues its 2010 season with a revival of Olivia Fuchs’s 2003 production of Beethoven’s “Fidelio”. It remains strong. The contemporary setting with the prisoners in orange jumpsuits reflecting the clothing of images of the inmates of Guantanamo Bay is still a potent one‚ and the evident brutalising and brutalism of both the prisoners and their prison-wardens makes the intended impression'
Fidelio‚ Opera Holland Park
Musicweb International (July 2010)
'Olivia Fuchs’s production of Fidelio earned plaudits upon its first outing in 2003; though I did not see it then‚ it remains just as relevant and disturbing today. Guantánamo Bay references‚ brought out both in the stage direction and in Jamie Vartan’s excellent designs‚ need to be hammered home just as much as they did then. The United States may have a new administration and this country may have a new government‚ but the camp of infamy remains open for business and the war criminals who led us into Afghanistan and Iraq have never been tried. Even if some resolution had been reached‚ one would not need to look far to find equally urgent cases: Burma‚ Gaza‚ Tibet‚ let alone the domestic prisons of our own countries‚ cynically packed with unfortunate souls who have no reason to be there‚ solely in order to keep the likes of the Daily Mail happy – though when are such organs of poujadisme ever satisfied? This production’s revelation of the prisoners in their orange jumpsuits is shocking enough‚ but the way in which they are cowed‚ in need of the light yet almost unable to cope with it‚ is something to shame not only those who will never see it but those who have voted for or at least tacitly assented to such barbarism‚ even those of us who abhor it and yet have been unsuccessful in bringing it to an end.
'
Fidelio‚ Opera Holland Park
Musicweb International (July 2010)
'It is‚ of course‚ tiresome to have to confront those who reckon Fidelio a failure; they so spectacularly miss the point that this is a work about freedom‚ and not in any sense that our political overlords would understand. Yet a production such as this might actually accomplish that confrontation for us. Fuchs’s reappraisal of Jacquino transforms a bit part into something truly horrifying: doubtless not an evil person‚ but a stupid one‚ brutalised by the situation‚ who engages in relatively ‘low-level’ abuse‚ or so the politicians would see it‚ of the prisoners. In another setting‚ he would doubtless be chanting ‘harmless’ nationalist slogans at a soccer match. And why should we trust the minister‚ who arrives with sinister bodyguards in shades? Likewise‚ the ‘media’‚ desperate to be let in to snap the first photographs? This souring of the final victory may not have been what Beethoven intended‚ but it works‚ and there is no harm in undercutting the music just a little‚ when it is done so well. It need not be done so every time‚ but is a valid option when confronted with an age of barbarism beyond anything the composer could have imagined.'
Rusalka‚ Opera North
Opera (July 2010)
'A production to savour'
Pelléas and Mélisande‚ Opera Holland Park
Independent on Sunday (June 2010)
'Fuchs’ Pelléas is both highly poetic and oddly provocative'
Pelléas and Mélisande‚ Opera Holland Park
Oxford Times (June 2010)
'In the role of Mélisande‚ the superb soprano Anne Sophie Duprels brings a similar emotional heft to that she delivered last year as Holland Park’s Kát’a Kabanová. The production reunites her with director Olivia Fuchs‚ designer Yannis Thavoris and lighting designer Colin Grenfell. Between them‚ they conjure a magical world‚ monochrome in the main‚ at which we cannot do other than gaze in rapt fascination'
Pelléas and Mélisande‚ Opera Holland Park
Times (June 2010)
'Olivia Fuchs’s haunting new staging of Pelléas is the better bet. To start with‚ the City of London Sinfonia sound transformed under Brad Cohen’s baton: Debussy’s pellucid score flickers with shimmer‚ seduction and‚ at times‚ dangerous menace. It grounds what can be a wispy psychodrama in a very human context — just as Fuchs’s probing production is zeroing in on the story’s universalities. A Buddhist herself‚ perhaps it’s no surprise to find Fuchs keying into the opera’s recurring patterns and archteypes. Her bold linking device is seven silent women to accompany the orchestral interludes‚ who enact the stages of life that Mélisande gradually and irreversibly traverses‚ from her wide-eyed first encounter with Golaud to her tragic death at his hands. That might sound over-cerebral were it not for Fuchs’s intimate character play and a cunning set (designs by Yannis Thavoris) that neatly straddles naturalism and symbolism'
Rusalka‚ Opera North
Financial Times (June 2010)
'Of recent interpretations‚ Opera North’s must rank as one of the best. First seen in 2003‚ it has been to Australia and back‚ and now returns stronger than ever – thanks to a first-class ensemble and a staging by Olivia Fuchs that tickles the imagination while respecting the mysterious simplicity of the tale'
Carmen‚ Wandsworth Prison
Observer (March 2010)
'Pimlico Opera’s trip to prison has now been an annual event for 20 years‚ during which some 50‚000 members of the public have gone ’inside’ and several hundred inmates have tasted the limelight‚ working with young professionals‚ in ways few ever expected. This year was Carmen in HMP Wandsworth‚ cut down to under two hours‚ directed by Olivia Fuchs and surviving gutsily intact.
Only five of the prisoners participating – whose nationalities included Polish‚ Romanian‚ Uzbechi and Turkish – spoke English. Carmen herself was voluptuously and smokily sung by Frances Bourne‚ who gave a fearlessly physical performance despite being seven months pregnant. The cast‚ pros and ams‚ ins and outs‚ worked with a great sense of team spirit. You can pontificate‚ with good reason‚ about the mutual benefits of an enterprise like this. But it’s simpler just to say that in all senses this Carmen was a captivating show.'
Carmen‚ Wandsworth Prison
Times (March 2010)
'Olivia Fuchs’s pacy‚ rough-theatre staging of Carmen inside the forbidding Victorian walls of HMP Wandsworth — Britain’s biggest jail — is no exception. The opera is cut by an hour (time off for good conduct?) and Toby Purser directs an unseen band in a scaled-down orchestration clearly done by someone who wants to help Bizet to release his inner Duke Ellington. But there’s nothing small-scale about the performances'
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
Independent on Sunday (December 2009)
'But for the closest synthesis of intelligent direction‚ imaginative design‚ uninhibited performance‚ and a devastating realisation of the score‚ Olivia Fuchs’s Opera Holland Park staging of Kat’a Kabanova was the triumph of 2009.'
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
Opera (October 2009)
'Two years ago‚ Olivia Fuchs directed an acclaimed no-frills production of Jenufa for this increasingly ambitious country-house-opera-for-townies company. Unfortunately I missed it‚ but if it was even half as good as her new Katya it must have been very good indeed…Fuchs and her resourceful designer gave us a Katya pared down to its scenic essentials‚ both handsome to look at and symbolic of a fragmented world which eventually destroys the life of its protagonist…Fuchs is a really sharp director of people‚ drawing brilliantly etched character portraits from all her cast…Any British company would have been proud of this Katya'
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
Guardian (August 2009)
'Kát’a Kabanová‚ Janácek’s harrowing examination of sexual guilt‚ has always tended to bring out the best in British opera companies. Few of its recent stagings‚ however‚ have so unflinchingly probed its moral and emotional complexities as Olivia Fuchs’s exceptional new production for Opera Holland Park: this is the company’s greatest achievement‚ and arguably Fuchs’s as well.'
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
Independent on Sunday (August 2009)
'Expressionism and verismo collide in Olivia Fuchs’s production of Kat’a Kabanova‚ the last and finest of Opera Holland Park’s 2009 season. As Boris Grigorjevic (Tom Randle) urges unhappily married Kat’a (Anne Sophie Duprels) to take his hand‚ the lovers step out on to the violet waters of the Volga‚ suspended on the pulse of Janácek’s score‚ uninhibited by the laws of nature or man. For this moment alone (lit exquisitely by Colin Grenfell)‚ Fuchs’s Kat’a would be unforgettable. As the centrepiece of a production in which closely observed character-work‚ rigorous attention to historical‚ social and psychological detail‚ fearless musicianship and realism and magic realism cohere‚ it is one of the most piercing and potent images I’ve seen……. There are no weak links. Every characterisation is thorough‚ every note sung with meaning‚ Randle’s ardent Boris and Duprels’s immersion in Kat’a’s guilt‚ longing and terror‚ like her Butterfly and Rusalka‚ sensational. Not simply the highlight of Holland Park’s season‚ this Kat’a Kabanova is the highlight of the summer. '
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
Musical Criticism (August 2009)
'Once more‚ it’s striking how well Fuchs uses the space‚ in spite of its inherent limitations. The Edwardian costumes and designs (it’s updated slightly) by Yannis Thavoris are resourceful‚ giving Fuchs various platforms to use‚ as well as a revolving cage-like room to the left of the stage in the first two acts. If it’s not particularly subtle‚ nor is the opera itself‚ and Fuchs elaborates the drama atmospherically. The Personenregie is noticeably detailed‚ with most of the singers performing like actors and avoiding stock operatic gestures‚ and the oppression of both the people in general and Kát’a specifically. Fuchs also depicts the role of nature in this piece very effectively‚ with spiky cloud-like structures hanging over the stage‚ tall grass growing to the right hand side and the river flowing between walkways. I don’t think OHP could do a better job with their limited resources and shallow stage...In short‚ it’s an excellent production‚ cast and crew‚ and it deserves a bigger audience than it had at the performance I attended. Some tickets remain for the performances on 1‚ 5 and 7 August‚ and with prices from £10‚ it surely makes a bargain alternative to the Proms and the country house opera companies in the regions'
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
Financial Times (July 2009)
'As so often in the past‚ Opera Holland Park has found its best form when it is at its most ambitious. The season has not included any of the adventurous Italian verismo operas with which the company made its name‚ but its success with Janácek’s Jenufa two years ago has opened up a new avenue of possibilities. For this year’s Kátya Kabanová‚ the company’s second Janácek‚ many of the same team have been re-assembled. Based on Ostrovsky’s The Storm‚ the opera shows what happens when a build-up of tension in a rigid society explodes in a thunderstorm of a climax‚ and Opera Holland Park duly proves that lightning can strike twice in the same place.
Olivia Fuchs’ production acts like a lightning rod to the opera’s frustrated emotions. Although it is an exaggeration to have the townsfolk behaving like puppets‚ the contrast with poor Kátya and her longing for emotional freedom does become even more intense. Cradling her stomach as if sick with desire and singing her heart out‚ Anne Sophie Duprels became truly the eye of the storm – an outstanding portrayal............. Altogether‚ this was one of Opera Holland Park’s finest achievements.
'
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
Musical Pointers.com (July 2009)
'This was a great achievement...the production was in the safe hands of Olivia Fuchs (whose wonderful Fidelio is to be revived there next year)'
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
MusicOMH.com (July 2009)
'After their trail-blazing production of Jenufa two years’ ago‚ Opera Holland Park now turn their attention to Kat’a Kabanova‚ with director Olivia Fuchs returning to direct...After her success with Jenufa you can see why the management wanted to entrust this production of Kat’a to Olivia Fuchs...All in all this was a thrilling performance of one of the 20th century’s greatest operas'
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
Stage (July 2009)
'After its huge success with Jenufa two years ago‚ Holland Park reassembles many of the same team to tackle Leos Janacek’s later masterpiece‚ a tale of a fragile‚ bullied woman who looks outside marriage for love. Once again the cast‚ conductor and orchestra‚ together with the production team‚ hit all the right buttons. This Kat’a Kabanova is a triumph...Director Olivia Fuchs charts Kat’a’s downfall with sensitivity...The principal performances are unimpeachable'
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
The Guardian (July 2009)
'Kát’a Kabanová‚ Janácek’s harrowing examination of sexual guilt‚ has always tended to bring out the best in British opera companies. Few of its recent stagings‚ however‚ have so unflinchingly probed its moral and emotional complexities as Olivia Fuchs’s exceptional new production for Opera Holland Park: this is the company’s greatest achievement‚ and arguably Fuchs’s as well.
She updates the work from the 1860s to the early years of the 20th century‚ locating Kát’a’s tragedy within the wider context of the hypocrisies of a smugly affluent bourgeoisie. Kabanicha (Anne Mason) terrorises her family‚ but then plays S&M games with Dikoj (Richard Angas) when everyone’s back is turned. The women who stare dismissively at Anne Sophie Duprels’s Kát’a on her way back from church‚ and turn against her after her confession‚ are revealed to be comparably trapped in loveless marriages and yearning for freedom.
Duprels is wonderful in suggesting the depths of feeling beneath Kát’a’s fragility. The emotional ferocity of her singing sometimes seems out of proportion to her slight frame. She cowers in terror before Jeffrey Lloyd Roberts’s dangerous Tichon‚ and yields to Tom Randle’s vulnerable‚ gloriously sung Boris with shy rapture. Fuchs presents their passion as capable of briefly transcending the forces of society and nature that will eventually pull them apart.
Their final catastrophic encounter‚ in which the gestures of desire can only trigger the bitterest of memories‚ have a veracity and emotional nakedness that is disturbing in the extreme. Stuart Stratford’s conducting‚ lyrical yet violent‚ adds immeasurably to the intensity of it all.'
Kát’a Kabanová‚ Opera Holland Park
Whats On Stage.com (July 2009)
'Fuchs’ production of Kát’a Kabanová ‚ the last in OHP’s season‚ has a number of strengths: an elegant staging‚ a spectacular performance by the City of London Sinfonia under Stuart Stratford’s baton‚ and an excellent line-up of leads'
The Rake’s Progress‚ Garsington Opera
Sunday Times (July 2008)
'Garsington‚ too‚ makes amends for its feeble Vivaldi opera with a striking‚ modern-dress staging of The Rake’s Progress by Olivia Fuchs. With her designer‚ Niki Turner‚ Fuchs brings Auden and Kallman’s Hogarth-inspired text closer to the period of the composition (the middle of the 20th century) with sinister bowler-hatted extras playing Nick Shadow’s diabolical helpers as a cross between figures in a Magritte painting and the murderous yobs in Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. Tom Rakewell’s descent from ambitious rural loafer to acquisitive man about town‚ ruined entrepreneur and madman is unerringly charted in this pitiless staging'
The Rake’s Progress‚ Garsington Opera
Independent (June 2008)
'In Olivia Fuchs’s terrific production‚ the tiny stage is dressed like a bucolic parody‚ only to have the roaring boys and whores of London rip it apart and spirit us to punk hell for Tom Rakewell’s arrival in the capital of self-indulgence. Nudging him gently down the slippery slope to ruin was our master of ceremonies‚ Nick Shadow‚ in one of the best performances I’ve seen in the role. His physical and vocal presence made it totally credible that Rakewell should hang on his every word. And his over-familiar tactility towards his charge made the betrayal all the more chilling. The extraordinary lullaby of farewell to Rakewell by Anne Trulove had a chaste beauty heightened by Fuchs’s outstanding chorus work‚ which made something moving and poetic of the harrowing denouement in Bedlam'
The Rake’s Progress‚ Garsington Opera
Independent on Sunday (June 2008)
'For a more rigorous examination of virtue scorned‚ you should head to the countryside‚ where Olivia Fuchs’s stylish production of The Rake’s Progress....Smartly designed and lit by Niki Turner and Bruno Poet‚ Fuchs’s Rake takes inspiration from surrealist art and 1980s pop culture. The whores and roaring boys are post-punk teens with sullen mouths‚ asymmetrical haircuts and ripped fishnets‚ Mother Goose is a bosomy Zandra Rhodes-Vivienne Westwood hybrid‚ while the three retainers who silently serve Nick Shadow sport ashen faces and Magritte bowler hats.'
The Rake’s Progress‚ Garsington Opera
Seen & Heard International (June 2008)
'From the moment that Christopher Purves - dressed in top hat and tails - stepped through the curtains of Garsington’s picture frame proscenium‚ to stand silently for a few moments smiling sardonically at the audience‚ it was obvious that this Rake would be something special. Olivia Fuch’s brilliant production is confident and sure-footed‚ using every inch of the small stage space and nearby gardens in a totally coherent presentation of Tom Rakewell’s downfall. Complete with a fine set of principals and magnificent direction of the large and youthful chorus‚ Tom’s seduction by Nick Shadow and subsequent decline is marvellously portrayed; right from the opening master-stroke through to the epilogue warning that the devil finds work for idle hands. It is pacy‚ very funny and terribly sad by turns‚ a modern morality tale about super-rich celebrity.'
The Rake’s Progress‚ Garsington Opera
The Guardian (June 2008)
'Olivia Fuchs’s intelligent production...Fuchs never overplays the caricatures and brings a genuinely light touch to the set pieces...It all fits together seamlessly...The closing moments‚ as Anne says her final farewell to Tom‚ are genuinely touching in a way that the end of this often chilly opera rarely is.'
The Rake’s Progress‚ Garsington Opera
The Telegraph (June 2008)
'Olivia Fuchs and her designer Niki Turner set the opera within a gilded frame and update with bravado‚ handling the gang of punks and roaring boys with particular flair.'
The Rake’s Progress‚ Garsington Opera
The Times (June 2008)
'Hogarth himself might have applauded...Olivia Fuchs’s crisply satirical staging‚ expertly tailored to the semi-outdoors ambience of Garsington‚ ensures that the modern relevance of this dark parable comes across loud and clear...There are many such incidental delights in Fuchs’s staging'
Midsummer’s Night Dream‚ Royal Opera House
Independent on Sunday (February 2008)
'Fuchs’s production has translated this uneven opera into a seductive‚ witty‚ touching entertainment.'
Midsummer Night’s Dream‚ Royal Opera House
MusicOMH.com (January 2008)
'It’s an evening that builds to an uproarious and ultimately uplifting finish...Fuchs grabs the opportunities given her to end the evening on a crowd and eye-pleasing note'
Midsummer’s Night Dream‚ Royal Opera House
Seen & Heard (January 2008)
'The Director‚ Olivia Fuchs‚ intuitively grasps the soul of the opera.'
Jenufa‚ Opera Holland Park
Opera (August 2007)
'Olivia Fuch‚ the director‚ heroically confined herself to directing an exceptionally fine cast.'
Jenufa‚ Opera Holland Park
Musical Pointers (June 2007)
'Olivia Fuch’s production of Jenufa has received well deserved accolades from all sides. On a smaller budget and mounting her Jenufa in OHP’s new tent yields nothing to either of them. (Her OHP Fidelio easily eclpised Covent Garden’s recent production‚ and Macbeth too was one of the best regular operagoers can remember.) She has a dream cast of principals and malleable singer/actors for all the rest of a large cast‚ who have to be moved in and out of Jenufa’s foster-mother’s cramped living quarters across the wide and narrow stage at Holland Park. This is achieved with aplomb‚ and I particularly liked her management of the friends and villagers in the non-realistic scenes with dances...For the main protagonists‚ every gesture and movement was apt and telling. Most reviewers have concentrated on the singers‚ so I stress particularly Olivia Fuchs’ brilliant deployment of them all.'
Jenufa‚ Opera Holland Park
MusicalCriticism.com (June 2007)
'Director Olivia Fuchs...without doubt‚ she got to the heart of this grim but uplifting story.'
Jenufa‚ Opera Holland Park
The Guardian (June 2007)
'Olivia Fuchs’s tightly focused staging of Janacek’s heartbreaker rightly zeroes in on its tensions as a domestic drama‚ played out only in its latter stages as a public scandal'
Jenufa‚ Opera Holland Park
The Telegraph (June 2007)
'Opera Holland Park’s wonderfully simple production is all the stronger for playing it absolutely straight...All praise to Olivia Fuchs for trusting this tale to do its own work'
Jenufa‚ Opera Holland Park
ThisisLondon.co.uk (June 2007)
'When a low-budget enterprise such as Opera Holland Park pulls off a production which has you gripped throughout‚ the achievement is all the more remarkable. This was the case with Olivia Fuchs’s intelligent staging of Janacek’s Jenufa‚ the second new production in the 2007 season.'
Marriage of Figaro‚ ENO
Independent on Sunday (November 2006)
'Olivia Fuchs is a spirited‚ fastidious and imaginative director‚ skilled at weaving small cruelties into the most calorific fantasies (Mayskaya Noch) and highlighting the tendernesses in otherwise brutal tragedies (Macbeth‚ Rusalka).'
Romeo et Juliette‚ British Youth Opera
Stage Online (September 2005)
'Throughout Olivia Fuchs’ production is economical and well-motivated.'
Macbeth‚ Opera Holland Park
Musical Pointers (June 2005)
'Good that Opera Holland Park entrusted their 2005 opening production to Olivia Fuchs‚ whose Fidelio at Holland Park is etched on our memories.'
Macbeth‚ Opera Holland Park
Sunday Times (June 2005)
'Fuchs’s handling of the witches — often sent up by serious directors embarrassed by Verdi’s jaunty‚ rollicking choruses — is one of the most striking aspects of her staging. They infiltrate Macbeth’s illicit court and celebrate Malcolm’s restoration by reconvening their coven to foment more mischief. Fuchs proposes a Macbeth that glories in the anarchic‚ disturbing power these women represent‚ and the female chorus rises magnificently to the occasion.'
Don Giovanni‚ Opera North
Sunday Times (January 2005)
'Don Giovanni‚ that late 18th-century expression of female oppression and male come-uppance‚ is an opera that might have been made for a 21st-century revisionist director. Olivia Fuchs has made full use of the opportunity in her production for Opera North. Her trick is that she has encouraged us to view the work as if the Don had been raping his victims only yesterday. We are no longer distanced from the horror of what he does.'
Luisa Miller‚ Opera Holland Park
Metro (July 2004)
'Fuch’s wonderfully effective new production...suddenly‚ the heightened emotions of Verdi’s score all make sublime sense.'
Luisa Miller‚ Opera Holland Park
The Stage (July 2004)
'Olivia Fuch’s overwhelming staging is proof positive that opera is intended for the stage and not CDs. Fuchs unerringly demonstrates how money and power will ruthlessly manipulate and destroy.'
Cherevichki‚ Garsington
Observer (June 2004)
'Olivia Fuchs’s inventive staging.'
Rusalka‚ Opera North
Opernwelt (November 2003)
'It’s clear that director Olivia Fuchs has considerable talent - she is a gifted storyteller - unafraid to probe beneath the surface charms of Rusalka.'
Rusalka‚ Opera North
Financial Times (October 2003)
'Opera North’s new production...should not be missed...Olivia Fuchs’s production touched the heart chillingly.'
Rusalka‚ Opera North
Independent on Sunday (October 2003)
'Olivia Fuchs’s new production for Opera North...is one of the most harrowing experiences I could imagine recommending . It’s also one ofthe most fascinating; well directed‚ expertly sung and acted...'
Rusalka‚ Opera North
Observer (October 2003)
'This is music theatre at its most powerful and affecting‚ as is Olivia Fuchs’s witty‚ stylish and equally moving new production of Rusalka.'
Rusalka‚ Opera North
Sunday Times (October 2003)
'The new production of Rusalka is also worth travelling a long way to see.'
Fidelio‚ Opera Holland Park
Guardian (June 2003)
'Unforgettable...very highly recommended'
Fidelio‚ Opera Holland Park
Sunday Telegraph (June 2003)
'A stirring new production of Fidelio..Olivia Fuchs’s modern-day setting catches the sweaty insecurity of tyranny.'
Fidelio‚ Opera Holland Park
Times (June 2003)
'Fuchs’s production‚ triumphantly opening Opera Holland Park’s season‚ also proves this opera’s versatility. Fuchs’s direction... worked only wonders.'
Turn of the Screw‚ Brighton Festival Opera
Evening Standard (May 2000)
'The remarkable economy of this staging forces us to imagine the real scenes and question the hauntings. A mirror in an Edwardian hanging cupboard becomes a window with a ghost looking through. A school table is Miles’s virtuoso piano keyboard. Chaise longues are beds‚ as if everybody’s camping out at Bligh. But Olivia Fuchs’s hard focus on character and imagination is not in the least camp in this rough and ready‚ emotionally gripping production.'
Turn of the Screw‚ Brighton Festival Opera
Independent on Sunday (May 2000)
'Unlike Olivia Fuchs and Rae Smith in their economical and intelligent Brighton Festival Opera production‚ Crowley’s designer …. But both stagings share a simplicity and immediacy that are utterly gripping.'
The Maids
Daily Telegraph (June 1998)
'Olivia Fuchs directs with skill and sensitivity‚ in a set intelligently designed by Rae Smith‚ and the orchestra plays enthusiastically‚ conducted by Dominic Wheeler.'
The Maids
Guardian (June 1998)
'In the premiere at the Lyric Hammersmith by Olivia Fuchs‚ who also wrote the libretto‚ the Robson brothers – countertenor and tenor – certainly fulfilled all the dramatic expectations. They produced performances of compelling concentration in which the smallest gesture speaks volumes.'
The Maids
Independent (June 1998)
'Like Lunn’s music‚ Fuchs’ direction avoids expressionistic extremes‚ while her skilfully condensed libretto allow the composer to work swiftly.'
The Maids
Time Out (June 1998)
'Olivia Fuchs’ direction gets fine performances from the brothers Robson‚ counter-tenor Christopher‚ tenor Nigel‚ observing Genet’s own wishes for male performers…An intriguing 90 minutes.'
La Boheme
Sunday Independent (June 1997)
'Olivia Fuchs’ direction has a freshness that rouses an audience. In fact‚ it was the best first night I can recall in Cork for some time. Here teamwork is the secret of the company’s success as the four bohemians convey the bleak mood I their shabby Parisian garret.'
The Turn of the Screw
Financial Times (January 1993)
'remarkably inventive ... layers of illusion‚ fantasy and dream through which the spectator moves as if spellbound'
The Turn of the Screw
Times (January 1993)
'Olivia Fuchs’s delicate production'
Johnny Johnson
Neue Zuricher Zeitung (January 1992)
'A dynamic and unusual acting style allows for a constantly surprising interaction between music and drama‚ through flirt‚ counterpoint and confrontation. Vital theatricality and imagery underline the heterogeneity of the piece where dance and comedy are juxtaposed with the brutality of war'
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