Mozart's opera Magic Flute gets creative treatment

The Magic Flute is a two-act opera by Mozart set to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder.[Photo provided to China Daily]

It turns out that Sarastro abducted Pamina because the gods had intended that she was to marry Tamino.

After passing a series of tests by the priests Tamino marries Pamina.

Barrie Kosky, the artistic director of Komische Oper Berlin, who had watched the opera as a young boy, hoped to put on a different production of The Magic Flute, but he did not get round to doing it until he met co-artistic directors Paul Barritt and Suzanne Andrade in 2010.

"We had not done The Magic Flute at the Komische Oper Berlin for a while, so I had to find a way to do it differently," says Kosky.

"A friend told me that I should go and see this British performance when it was touring Hanover, and within the first 30 seconds of the show I thought this could be an interesting way of approaching the subject."

Animator and illustrator Barritt founded the company 1927 along with writer-actress Suzanne Andrade in 2005.

The company has won acclaim with works, such as Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea and The Animals and Children Took to the Streets.

The Magic Flute marked 1927's first opera.

Speaking about her role, Brigitte Geller, the actress who plays the daughter of Queen, Pamina, in The Magic Flute, says: "For actors, it is quite a challenge to perform in this production because you cannot see what's happening onstage. The actual play is behind you.

"The conductor is also far away from you."

She also says that usually a singer moves onstage in an opera production, but in this production, she has to move to the animations and films projected on the large screen behind.

If you go

7:30 pm, July 21-23. Tianqiao Performing Arts Center, 9 Nandajie, Tianqiao, Xicheng district, Beijing. 400-635-3355.