小瓊：幾個(gè)月前，我在東京新國立劇場觀看了皮埃爾·奧迪的新作品——朱塞佩·威爾第的《西蒙·波卡涅拉》。這部歌劇首演于1857年，1881年復(fù)排，盡管其中涉及權(quán)力政治、浪漫愛情和父女分別25年后重聚等復(fù)雜情節(jié)，但仍有許多忠實(shí)粉絲。2023年的11月中旬，此次聯(lián)合制作的奧迪版《西蒙·波卡涅拉》在東京全球首演，制作方包括了芬蘭國家歌劇院和馬德里皇家劇院在內(nèi)。演出現(xiàn)場是如此令人激動(dòng)，以至于一些舞臺(tái)畫面至今仍清晰地留在我的腦海中。

小薇：如果你指的是大膽的舞臺(tái)形象，我們必須將其歸功于布景設(shè)計(jì)師。我看到這版制作請來了著名的當(dāng)代藝術(shù)家安尼施·卡普爾。他1954年出生于孟買，20世紀(jì)70年代初以來一直居住在倫敦。他的一些重大的公共藝術(shù)作品享譽(yù)全球，比如芝加哥的《云門》，被民眾親切地戲稱為“豆莢”。

小瓊：那么，是什么打造了這些令人印象深刻的舞臺(tái)效果呢？卡普爾以后極簡主義著稱，他非常有效地運(yùn)用了強(qiáng)烈的色彩：紅色、白色和黑色。紅色和白色恰好是熱那亞（《西蒙·波卡涅拉》故事發(fā)生地）國旗的顏色，而非常鮮明的黑色有力地昭示著角色的不祥命運(yùn)。

小薇：紅色也象征著流血。實(shí)際上，我發(fā)現(xiàn)卡普爾對熔融巖石抽象但非常有效的描述，預(yù)示著接下來可能發(fā)生的危險(xiǎn)和不可預(yù)測性。

小瓊：現(xiàn)代舞臺(tái)上的抽象化處理確實(shí)能突出舞臺(tái)角色的內(nèi)心情感。例如，在《西蒙·波卡涅拉》最后一幕中，一座火山倒掛在天花板上，外表漆黑一片，內(nèi)部熾熱無比，這個(gè)形象已經(jīng)讓我印象深刻了好幾個(gè)月了。

小薇：我一直在網(wǎng)上搜索，發(fā)現(xiàn)這種特殊的黑色色調(diào)真的非常獨(dú)特。它被稱為梵塔黑，能吸收最高達(dá)99.965%的光線，因此它確實(shí)是所有黑色中最黑的——自2014年以來，卡普爾一直在他的繪畫和雕塑中使用這種特定的色調(diào)。

小瓊：相信我，在舞臺(tái)上看到梵塔黑是如此有效，你真的會(huì)驚嘆于布景設(shè)計(jì)師想法的純粹性。但是，如果我沒有提到優(yōu)秀的演員陣容，還有新國立劇院合唱團(tuán)和由指揮家大野和士執(zhí)棒的東京愛樂樂團(tuán)，那我就太失職了。這是一場精彩的表演，也是2023—2024演出季迄今為止的亮點(diǎn)之一。

Joan： Its been a few months since I saw Pierre Audis new production of Giuseppe Verdis Simon Boccanegra at the New National Theatre， Tokyo. An opera that was premiered in 1857 and revised in 1881， this work has many fans， despite its complex plot involving power politics， romance and a reunion of father and daughter after 25 years. In a co-production with the Finnish National Opera and Madrids Teatro Real， Tokyo presented the world premiere of Audis version in mid-November. It was such a thrill that some of the stage images are still vivid in my mind.

Valery： If youre talking about bold stage imagery， we must credit the set designer. I see this production features the famous contemporary artist Anish Kapoor， who was born in Mumbai in 1954 and based in London since the early 1970s. Some of his monumental public art is renowned globally， such as Cloud Gate in Chicago， lovingly nicknamed “The Bean.”

Joan： So what was responsible for those impressive stage effects？ Kapoor， renowned as a postminimalist， very effectively wielded strong colors： red， white and black. Red and white happen to be the colors of the flag of Genoa （where the story takes place）， and the very stark black powerfully foreshadows the ominous fate of our characters.

Valery： Red is also emblematic of bloodshed. I find Kapoors abstract but very effective representation of molten rock literally signals both danger and unpredictability in what may happen next.

Joan： Abstraction in modern staging can really accentuate stage characters inner emotions. For example， in the final act， the image of a volcano in reverse， hanging from the ceiling with a stark black exterior and red-hot interior， has stuck with me for months now.

Valery： Ive been searching online and discovered that this particular shade of black is really unique. Its called “Vantablack，” absorbing 99.965 percent of all light， so its truly the blackest of all blacks—a specific shade that Kapoor has owned to use in his paintings and sculptures since 2014.

Joan： Believe me， seeing it on stage is so effective； you really marvel at the purity of the set designers ideas. But I would be remiss if I didnt mention the wonderful cast， the New National Theatre Chorus and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra led by Maestro Kazushi Ono. It was a splendid performance， one of the highlights of the 2023-2024 season so far.