The only opera not staged for a 360° stage, but for an outdoor setting, preferably in a harbour or at a shore. Our Rigoletto is set in the present, the world of models, expensive clothing, luxury, drugs, alcohol and sex. The duke is the director of a modelling agency and has, as all the agencies, the power to make or break a model. For him a model is a ‘product’ that, as long as it fulfils his demands and expectation is ‘kept’. The Duke has Rigoletto, his body guard, for all his dirty work and providing him with the most beautiful women for his pleasure. He is an ‘intriguer’, a real mafia man who has no scruples, when it’s about others, as long he can hide and protect his own family. He is hated and feared by all the others around the Duke.
The story develops itself the way as it’s described in the opera with the exception of the castle which is now the office of the model agency, situated in an isolated area at the harbour.
The inn is a ‘coffeeshop’ in an old lighthouse boat. In a back alley Rigoletto has his house where he hides his beautiful daughter Gilda, but cannot avoid that the Duke, disguised as a student, using his charms during mass in church to make her fall in love with him. Tthe ‘others’ see a chance to settle an account with Rigoletto by abducting Gilda and bringing her to the room of the Duke. Rigoletto swears revenge, but Gilda offers herself to safe the life of the Duke. |
