When Thomas Vinterberg’s Festen came out in 1998, it shot the 29-year-old director into superstardom. Its paired-back style, which was a result of the film being the first to follow the strict Dogme 95 manifesto, gave it such a visual rawness that audiences were shocked in their seats. The film, which touched on themes of historic child abuse, racism and suicide, is an excruciating viewing experience. Its power never dulling in the over-quarter century since its release.

Now, Festen finds itself reborn. Currently on stage at the Royal Opera House in London, an operatic adaptation of Vinterberg’s film has music by Mark-Anthony Turnage (the composer behind the opera Anna Nicole and the Mercury Prize nominated concerto Your Rockaby) and Lee Hall (the screenwriter of Billy Elliot and Rocketman). Festen has already opened to some of the strongest reviews of Turnage’s career, but we caught up with the composer and Lee Hall as the opera was in its rehearsal period, when the final product was still something of a mystery and the anticipation was building.

Barry Pierce: So, who had the idea to turn Festen into an opera?
Mark-Anthony Turnage: I mean, we both did really. It’s been a real slow burn for me because I watched Festen, not when it first came out, but around the time the theatre production happened. [Festen has previously been adapted as a play by David Eldridge which premiered at the Almeida Theatre in 2004] When I first saw it, I didn’t think it could be an opera. But then, about ten years later, I happened to watch it again and I thought, “Why didn’t I think of this as an opera?” Because it has so many operatic elements. You have all these people in a room and all these speeches, they’re basically arias.
Lee Hall: The chorus has become such an antiquated thing, you only really have it in musicals and opera. You can’t really think about it when you’re writing a play. But when you’re writing an opera you suddenly go, “Oh my God, it can be about this collective.” I think that’s possibly the biggest dramaturgical difference, the group has become a character, as much as the individuals. That just seemed like a fantastic dramatic opportunity. I’d seen the film when it first came out and, because I am a screenwriter as well, I was less concerned with the style of Dogme. From a screenwriter’s point of view, it’s an absolutely brilliant screenplay. It’s almost a perfect screenplay. It fits into three acts. It does things that align it with classical opera. 

“From a screenwriter’s point of view, [Festen has] an absolutely brilliant screenplay. It’s almost a perfect screenplay.” — Lee Hall

BP: I watched some interviews with Vinterberg and, because of the constraints of Dogme, he always says that the screenplay had to be absolutely perfect, because the whole film relies on it. Also, notably, the film has no score.
M-AT: And yet, there are musical moments, such as the conga, which I knew I wanted to include early on. Lee’s more than just a playwright, he’s worked in musicals, so he knows the difference between writing for speaking and writing for singing. I see a lot of librettos, even ones that get to the stage, where I think, as a composer, I would have rejected these lines because I can’t see music in them.
LH: I approached it more as a lyricist than a dramatist, because the drama was quite set out. I didn’t have to do a lot of that work. We made the decision to try and preserve as much [of the screenplay] as we could, because we loved it. I mean, some of it is even in rhyme, deliberately for certain characters who are being faux in public.
M-AT: The other big thing that we’ve done, or that Lee’s done, is add much more humour to the story. It isn’t going to be a grim evening at the opera. Even though I remember when we did the first press thing here and the opera was billed as being about child abuse, suicide, racism and I kept thinking, “We’ve got to promote this!” [laughs] I remember I did a piece years ago called Blood on the Floor that was billed as a piece about drug addiction and urban decay and I said, “Well nobody’s going to go to that!”

BP: I’ve always been interested in the creation process behind an opera. How exactly does it work? Do you compose the music first or is it the libretto that is written first?
M-AT: It’s the libretto first. I think it would be impossible to create the music without having the words.
LH: An opera is so massive, I’m not sure how you could possibly construct it the other way.
M-AT: There is a to and fro. We had two really important workshops where we sort of fine-tuned it. One thing I don’t understand with some modern opera is when you don’t understand all of the words. I teach at the Royal College of Music and the idea that you wouldn’t hear a lot of the words is a technical failure for that composer, because if you set words, they’ve got to be clear. I wanted Lee’s text to be as clear as possible and that’s what we did in the workshops. I slowed things down if they were too fast or too garbled. 

“For me, it all goes back to when I first saw Peter Grimes on stage.” — Mark-Anthony Turnage

BP: What was it like to construct a piece that has quite a large cast of named characters? You know, you have the immediate family but you also have all the guests, you have the kitchen staff, and you have the wait staff too. They all are somewhat intrinsic to the plot, the way they all interact with each other. How do you keep on top of that?
LH: Well, I was completely shocked when I saw actual physical singers in front of me. It’s quite easy to just think of a Danish name and give it to a character. But one of the great things about opera is that you can have more than one thing going on at the same time. To make the large cast work there are often two scenes going on simultaneously, and Mark was able to keep those two things in tension. To make them different but part of the same musical moment
M-AT: That was hard. The other thing is that Richard Jones [director] is brilliant at directing and especially directing large forces, especially a chorus. If this were badly directed, it would be a muddle, because there are so many intricate things going on. It’s not an easy piece to direct. I don’t write choral music outside of opera, so I’m not interested in writing, you know, oratorios. For me, it all goes back to when I first saw Peter Grimes on stage. And the most amazing thing that I found in that piece, apart from the fact it’s a masterpiece, is when they’re calling out Peter Grimes’ name and the chorus goes to the front of the stage and they start shouting “Peter Grimes!” I suppose I want to do that. You don’t get it in any other art form.

BP: The piece is currently in rehearsals, have you seen it in full yet? What is it like to see the piece coming together?
LH: I mean, it’s amazing. Obviously, this is Mark’s world and I feel like a complete interloper, but it’s just joyous. My God, the level of talent and concentration is such a different thing from theatre. They’re acting it just like in a theatre rehearsal but they’ve also got to hit these notes and you’ve got to be perfectly on time. The level of artistry is amazing.
M-AT: They not only can sing beautifully, they can actually act. So it’s very powerful. Even being in the room without the orchestra, without staging and costumes, they’re still so good.

Festen is on the Main Stage of the Royal Opera House until February 27th. Limited tickets are still available through the ROH website.