The Moravian Theatre in Olomouc is presenting a new production of Jenůfa. This modern opera full of womanhood offers an untraditional perspective on a traditional Janáček work

The Moravian Theatre Olomouc has prepared the premiere of the opera Jenůfa directed by Veronika Kos Loulová. This production brings a fresh and contemporary perspective on a classic story of love, forgiveness and hope. It stands out, first and foremost, for its strong social dimension which will connect the audience with today’s social issues and provide them with a deeper insight into one of the most important works of Czech opera. The director, who holds the position of artistic director of the opera company, has taken a modern approach to the work and has dedicated it to women facing postpartum depression.

 

Jenůfa is being presented as a co-production with National Theatre Brno. It will have its premiere at the Moravian Theatre in Olomouc on 15 November, after which it is also to be presented at the Mahen Theatre in Brno where it is to be performed on 20 and 21 November 2024 as part of the prestigious Janáček Brno Festival. “The goal of the Janáček Brno Festival is to open up new perspectives on Janáček’s operatic work. The idea of approaching artistic director Veronika Kos Loulová was intended from the very beginning to lead to a purely female perspective on the fate of Jenůfa with a crossover with mothers who are going through a difficult postpartum period. Through Janáček’s music, which for me always goes straight to the heart, this can achieve an extremely profound experience,” says Jiří Heřman, Artistic Director of National Theatre Brno’s Janáček Opera and Artistic Director of the Janáček Brno Festival.

 

 

An updating of the opera Jenůfa

 

Jenůfa is one of Leoš Janáček’s most important works. This year we are commemorating 120 years since its first premiere which took place in Brno in 1904. A musical treatment of this first version was prepared for this new production by music editor Mark Audus. Veronika Kos Loulová and her all-woman production team decided on the original version of the opera because, in her opinion, it best encapsulatesJanáček’s rawness, truthfulness and emotionality. The work, staged under the leadership of conductor Anna Novotná Pešková, is a unique example of female co-operation on the Czech opera scene. This is both women’s first experience with a Janáček opera, though they both feel a real affinity with Janáček’s musical expression. The strong trio of women in the production team is completed by script editor Marta Ljubková, who says that “Janáček’s Jenůfa presented what was, at its time, the topical issue of illegitimate children and the resulting social stigma. We do not want to stage this opera, which was provocative at its time, as a window into the past, but rather as an opportunity to take a look at our lives today through this ageless music." Rather than the fate of the stepmother Kostelnička, the production team is, for this reason, more interested in young Jenůfa, whose destiny is decided by other people, and they are also interested in the newborn baby who is condemned to death by cruel social conventions. They try to look beyond the fates of the characters at the time at which the piece was written and to see in it contemporary women who are struggling with the doubts associated with motherhood.

 

 

A topic that still resonates today

 

The tragic story of Jenůfa, a young woman from the Moravian countryside, revolves around motherhood, social pressures and family constellations. The themes that Janáček and Gabriela Preissová, the author of the original dramatic work Her Stepdaughter, explore are still relevant today. Kostelnička, Jenůfa’s foster mother, resorts to a desperate act in order to protect her family from the shame that would condemn them mercilessly in the rural community. Just as then, women today also often feel pressured by the expectations that society places on them, especially in matters of motherhood.

 

The new production aims both to point out the timelessness and emotional strength of Janáček’s opera and to draw attention to modern problems. “Work on Jenůfa has already been in progress for more than a year, and I know that it will be extremely difficult to transfer the concept from our intimate, focused and internal debates to the merciless running of a theatre juggernaut. I have great respect for this exposure, I am scared, but at the same time I know that an unexpected and revolutionary work is being created,” emphasises Kos Loulová.

 

 

Unique creative co-operation and a female perspective

 

The entire creative team for this production is made up of women, which is unusual in the opera world. Director Veronika Kos Loulová and conductor Anna Novotná Pešková have previously met on innovative projects and, thanks to this collaboration, they bring a new perspective to the traditional opera repertoire. “Janáček’s music is raw and true. Our goal is to show its contemporary meaning and connect it with the difficult situations that women continue to experience to this day,” says conductor Novotná Pešková in describing her relationship to Janáček’s work. “Our production also emphasises topics that are relevant to women because we are looking at it through a female lens,” explains the director.

 

Part of the stage is the art project by British artist Jamie McCartney called The Great Wall of Vulva (a sculpture made of plaster casts of female genitalia), evidently the most famous feminist work, which was first exhibited in London in 2011 and which has now found its way onto the stage of the Moravian Theatre in Olomouc.

 

 

Co-operation with the organisation A Mother’s Smile

 

The creative team is working on the production in collaboration with clients of the organisation A Mother’s Smile which provides support to women with postpartum psychological problems. “We decided to dedicate Jenůfa’s story to mothers who have experienced postpartum depression. In collaboration with the organisation’s clients, we are working with their authentic diary entries and testimony, and this brings a profound truth and humanity to the production,” adds the director.

 

According to clinical psychologist Renata Banášová, this collaboration provides the hope of a wider awareness of the topic of postpartum depression. “Many of our clients find the great courage and strength within themselves to share their experiences and to pass on their story in an effort to help other women in a similar situation.”

 

“I am delighted that a work is being created that deals with a topic that concerns many families, but that no one talks about much,” said the theatre’s director David Gerneš.

 

The main role of Jenůfa is to be played by Barbora Perná, a soloist with the Opera and Operetta Company at the Moravian Theatre Olomouc, while the role of Kostelnička is to be portrayed by guest artist Eliška Gattringerová. The male characters are to be played by Raman Hasymau and Josef Moravec. The set and costumes have been created by the renowned Romanian set designer Irina Moscu, and the team is completed by Italian lighting designer Fiammetta Baldiserri.

 

 

Libretto: Leoš Janáček from the play by Gabriela Preissová

Musical staging: Anna Novotná Pešková

Conductor: Anna Novotná Pešková

Director: Veronika Kos Loulová

Dramaturgy: Marta Ljubková

Choirmaster: Michael Dvořák

Set and costume design: Irina Moscu

Lighting design: Fiammetta Baldiserri

Musical preparation: Milada Jedličková, Lucie Kaucká

 

Cast:

Jenůfa: Barbora Perná

Kostelnička: Eliška Gattringerová, guest

Laca Klemeň: Josef Moravec, guest

Števa Buryja: Raman Hasymau

Stařenka Buryjovka: Sylva Čmugrová, guest

Stárek: Jiří Přibyl

Karolka: Helena Beránková, Kateřina Popová

Barena: Anna Moriová