Janáček Káťa Kabanová Opera Holland Park, July 2009 Director Olivia Fuchs Lighting Colin Grenfell

The production was revived in July 2017

Reviews 2017

Yannis Thavoris’s set lightly defines the Kabanova house and the flat banks of the River Volga, in which Katya drowns herself, and it doesn’t compete with the detail of Fuchs’s direction. His 1920s’ costumes have a sepia elegance straight out of those photographs of the composer’s life and times... (Classical Source)

...evocative sets by Yannis Thavoris... (WhatsOnStage.com)

If there was any doubt of the insignificance of mankind in the face of the forces of Nature, then Yannis Thavoris’ design (...) would puncture it in a flash, figuratively and literally.

Streaking shards of blue - the surging waters of the Volga that will engulf Kát’a, or perhaps the electric flashes of the storm which propels her fateful confession - shoot across the wide stage at Holland Park, as piercing as the timpani’s thumping fate motif. (Opera Today)

Olivia Fuchs’s 2009 production (...) is straightforward, to the point and intelligent in its use of the space. Blue floor covering, a strategically placed clump of reeds and long boardwalks spanning the wide, shallow stage give a surprisingly strong sense of events happening on the banks of the Volga. A few simple items of symbolism add psychological colour, such as the simple circular cage which represents Kát’a’s isolation. Yannis Thavoris’s designs for the costumes of the chorus lend a splash of colour to proceedings, but their Edwardian formality and the chorus’ stylised movement bring out the rigidity in the society they depict. (bachtrack)

Janáček took little interest in the Russian setting, so designer Yannis Thavoris is wise to give the production a more abstract 19th-century feel. The scenes alternate between indoor and outdoor settings, but here we basically have a single set, the large stage floor lit in blue with wooden walkways running across – the Volga a ubiquitous presence throughout and a recurring symbol of fate. For the indoor scenes, a rotating circular platform is positioned stage right. At the start, it is filled with Victorian drawing room furniture and half enclosed with an arching metal grille, a powerful symbol of Katya’s oppression in the family home. Later, when Katya and Boris meet and furtively declare their love, they step from the walkway into the "water", Boris first and then Katya following, a similarly potent indicator of the social transgression of their actions. (the arts desk)

Yannis Thavoris’ set seems fairly simple and yet is immensely effective.(...) Characters spend the vast majority of time treading on the wooden walkways, revealing how societal expectations keep them on the straight and narrow. Similarly, when they occasionally depart from these and step into the ‘water’ it could represent their attempts to free themselves from society’s shackles.

The Kabanova house is a cylindrical cage-like structure that reveals Kát’a’s entrapment. In Act III this is replaced by a shrine-like area, complete with candles, in which Kát’a reveals the truth, possibly signifying the extent to which the church plays a part in encouraging confession. Hanging above the stage are a series of blue ‘lightning bolts’ that could represent water, the sky or even clouds, but in any case prove an excellent visual device which lends the set a certain Expressionistic feel. (musicOMH)

Yannis Thavoris opts for an abstract design, focusing less on the period and more on the emotional state of each character. (...) poetically conceived and beautifully realised. (exeunt)

Reviews 2009

... wonderfully sung, played and staged... Not simply the highlight of Holland Park's season, this Kat'a Kabanova is the highlight of the summer. (Independent on Sunday)

... for the closest synthesis of intelligent direction, imaginative design, uninhibited performance, and a devastating realisation of the score, Olivia Fuchs's Opera Holland Park staging of Kat'a Kabanova was the triumph of 2009. (Independent on Sunday, Opera in 2009)

The Edwardian costumes and designs (it's updated slightly) by Yannis Thavoris are resourceful (MusicalCriticism.com)

Designer Yannis Thavoris’s (...) spare sets suggest atmosphere wonderfully (The Stage)

... Yannis Thavoris' evocative designs... (Music OMH)

... designed by Yannis Thavoris. It’s a good-looking, thoughtful and intelligent staging... (Telegraph)

The set was excellent, a cage-like room for the Kabanov house, some suggestive floating objects for outside, enough to evoke the atmosphere; the costumes similarly apposite. ...an operatic evening in a thousand. (Spectator)

(Olivia Fuchs) and her resourceful designer, Yannis Thavoris, gave us a Katya pared down to its scenic essentials, both handsome to look at and symbolic of a fragmented, socially fragile world which eventually destroys the life of its protagonist. ... I applaud Fuchs and Thavoris for not encumbering Janacek’s masterpiece with heavy scenery. Their staging moved with cinematic fluidity... Any British company would have been proud of this Katya. (Opera magazine)