Crazy Days - or making an opera in pandemic times (2021)

Autumn 2020. An international cast lands at Schiphol Airport for the rehearsals of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at Dutch National Opera. Hundreds of people have been working on it for three years and the performances are sold out. The young, up-and-coming vocalists, the orchestra, the costume and set designers: everyone is ready. Not even a pandemic could stop this opera train. But the measures are strict: only 30 people are allowed in the rehearsal room, masks are mandatory during singing and a COVID manager focuses on the regular disinfection of everyone's hands. And every time a press conference is held with new measures, the pressure on the artists increases. If the opera house has to close because of the new COVID rules, everyone's worst fears come true. What are the options now? What is an opera without an audience? How do they ensure that all the hard work has not been in vain? Crazy Days seeks answers to these questions in the style of opera buffa (comic opera). Le nozze di Figaro is an opera full of social chaos and absurd plot changes, accompanied by light-hearted and brilliant music. It is in this spirit that director Sanne Rovers, together with the main characters of Dutch National Opera, shows us what their work is worth and how opera stays alive. Even, or perhaps especially, during a lockdown.