Down To the Wire
Conversation
Opening the Winspear Opera House wouldn’t be easy. Stage director Tim Albery explains the thrills and frustrations of pulling off the inaugural performance, Otello.
Tim Albery knew pulling off the opening performance in the Winspear Opera House was going to be difficult. The British-born, Toronto-based stage director had opened The Opera House Toronto, and knew the Dallas production would bring with it similar glitches and malfunctions. Add to that the fact that the production team would get into the performance hall only a few weeks before opening night, and that construction of the Winspear continued through rehearsals. Everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong. Tim Albery But it was an experience, Albery said, that harkened back to his twenties, when he was starting out as theater director, staging all-night productions and experimental theater pieces that were draining, challenging, and exhilarating. I spoke with Albery Friday afternoon at the Capital Grille, hours before the curtain rose on the new Dallas production of Otello.
(Please pardon the background noise)
On juggling the last minute finishing touches:
Comparing the Dallas experience to opening Opera House Toronto:
On staying focused amidst technical problems:
On the production team’s motto: “Never to be forgotten”
“A more extreme version of normal”
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