Page 513 - Media Coverage Book - 75th Aldeburgh Festival 2024

Flora McIntosh as Berthe, Simon Wallfisch as Blond Eckbert and Aoife Miskelly as A bird | Photo:
Richard Hubert-Smith

The story is by German Romantic writer Ludwig Tieck, and explores the blurring of lines between

the supernatural and paranoia. On the face of it, it’s short (just over an hour in length) and fairly
simple: women tells life story, husband’s friend knows more about it than he should, husband kills

friend because he seems creepy, husband discovers his wife is his sister and goes insane.

Beyond this, though, are questions about solitude, psychology, paranoia and relationships. There

is also the perspective of a bird present, introduced by Weir’s libretto, revealing the concept
of Waldeinsamkeit – the feeling of being alone in the forest. Here is another perspective from

which we witness the drama, holding questions of nature, and its deeper meaning.

For Robin Norton-Hale’s production, the Eckberts’ ‘castle’ is a Scandi tiny house, or converted
‘bothy’, complete with glass walls and wooden paneling. Act 1 occurs in this one room, beginning
with the Bird (a vocally agile Aoife Miskelly) giving its eponymous call accompanied by the nature

sounds in the orchestra.

It’s a static reading of the first act, set almost exclusively in the one room. This decision felt it was
leading up to place focus on Berthe’s aria, but the idle smoking, pacing and reflecting didn’t

entirely chime with Weir’s score. The longer orchestral interludes required more tension on stage
at points, and left a confusion in the air.