DIRECTOR CLAUS GUTH ABOUT TURANDOT

Who is Turandot? She established a highly bureaucratic and brutal reign of terror – nobody can move in it unobserved, anyone who comes too near her is executed.

Private and social protective walls are always born of fear – what does Turandot fear? What do we fear? What is a protected, safe life worth if it allows reality to enter only through highly diversified filters?

A man – Calàf – is prepared to break through all these protective walls. Why does he do this? Does he have nothing to lose? Does he love Turandot? Or does he just want to seize her power for himself?

In contrast to the mythical and exotic setting, Puccini creates a sensitively drawn psychogram of two very dif- ferent people, whose behaviour is precisely motivated. It is important to bring this out and arouse our interest in the people behind the system.