This outstanding new production directed by Deborah Warner presents Alban Berg’s expressionist, atonal opera using both naturalistic and impressionistic mise-en-scène, drawing out richly layered performances from the cast. Wozzeck is rarely performed: the last time it was performed at the Royal Opera House was in 2013 (the same for English National Opera).

Based on Karl Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck (1877), Berg’s libretto (1925) is dark and surreal. Wozzeck (Christian Gerhaher) is holding down multiple part-time jobs in order to pay for child-care, including: cleaning the weirdly open-plan military latrines; shaving the patronising, know-it-all captain (Peter Hoare); and undergoing execrable medical testing by a quack doctor (Brindley Sherratt) who seems to be making it up as he goes along. Wozzeck ends up psychotic, murdering the mother of his child (Anja Kampe).

In this production, despite mostly realistic set design (Hyemi Shin), there is also the sense that Wozzeck might be trapped in a theatre: a flimsy curtain perpetually falls on him, projecting shadowy images of stagehands setting up for the next scene (lighting by Adam Silverman). Each act is announced by enormous text that dominates the whole stage; dwarfing the powerless Wozzeck. At one point, he slumps against the Royal Opera House’s golden proscenium arch, which contrasts starkly with his dirty overalls (costumes by Nicky Gillibrand).

Legend tells us that that the 1925 premiere required 137 rehearsals. The opera is infamously difficult to sing, with Berg’s fanatical performance directions including sprechsgesang, polyrhythms and constant changes in tempo. Conductor Antonio Pappano, Music Director of The Royal Opera, has pulled off an amazing feat by realising the score in a way that not only feels totally natural, but also brings out the score’s latent romanticism and beauty. Christian Gerhaher, too, imbues Wozzeck with a vocal lightness and sweetness. These decisions may seem counterintuitive in the face of such sinister and disturbing material, but in fact makes the drama so much richer and truer.

Playing at the Royal Opera House 19 May – 7 June 2023.