“Much of the evening’s success must rest with director Michael Gieleta who wrung out every bit of theatricality and melodrama to be found in the piece….astonishing, lovingly staged.”

" One of the most successful updates I have encountered....the final apotheosis overwhelmed a stunned audience.”

“whatever one’s misgivigns about a director projecting autobiographical trauma onto such an unknown piece – it works, sometimes so interestingly that the staging almost gets in the way of the opera itself” ****

“Michael Gieleta's staging makes use of film and photographs to translate the original 18th-century setting to the period of Solidarity, which hits home powerfully”

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“"Michael Gieleta having turned it into a national saga... cast and chorus delivered with ferocious passion
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“The production… is a hard-hitting piece of theatre that makes an indelibly powerful impact.”