Boldly rewriting the opera’s dialogue to accommodate his concept, Mr. Tcherniakov presents “Carmen” as a large-scale role-play, a novel bit of psychotherapy for a numb modern man.

The lecherous Falstaff, with his infamous roving eye, finally meets his match when his underhand plans to solve money troubles have the three merry wives of Windsor conspiring to teach him a lesson. A drunkard, womaniser, troublemaker and glutton, Falstaff is also capable of tenderness and dejection. It is this endearing and complex character - so human in his excesses and demise - that director Denis Podalydès conjures up in the inspired setting of a run-down hospital designed by Eric Ruf.

In the ethereal afterlife, there is no time or space. The shades, freed from their earthly cares, celebrate the greatness of the Goddess of Truth. Shrouded in eternal glory, she sits triumphant, flanked by Beauty and Goodness, while at her feet lies Suffering in her mantle of blood. In the midst of this chorus of praise, a discordant lament rises: “To live! Who will give me back the thrill of life?” The voice belongs to Guercœur, who died in the prime of life after falling in love with Giselle and freeing his people from a tyrant, assisted by his friend Heurtal. Unable to rest, Guercœur begs to return to his fleshly form. Truth warns him: two years have already passed on Earth where nothing lasts forever. His fall from paradise could be brutal…

Guercœur, the knight and a freedom fighter, meets with an early death and ends up in heaven. But his soul is unable to rest and begs to be returned to earth. At the Opéra national du Rhin, Stéphane Degout plays the title role under the direction of Ingo Metzmacher, while Christof Loy’s staging explores the boundaries between the two worlds.