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The Death of Klinghoffer live Q&A: director Tom Morris answers your questions – as it happened

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The director of the controversial opera, which opened on Monday to protests at the Met in New York, will be online at 1pm ET on Friday. Please post your questions now

 Updated 
Guardian staff
Fri 24 Oct 2014 14.02 EDTFirst published on Thu 23 Oct 2014 10.56 EDT
The Death of Klinghoffer
Alan Opie (l) as Leon Klinghoffer and Jesse Kovarsky as Omar in rehearsal for The Death of Klinghoffer. Photograph: Reuters
Alan Opie (l) as Leon Klinghoffer and Jesse Kovarsky as Omar in rehearsal for The Death of Klinghoffer. Photograph: Reuters

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Tom is signing off now. He writes:

Many thanks to everyone for taking part in this.

It is fascinating that conversation ranges so quickly from detailed discussion of the production into the political context which is so fraught and which is still an ongoing global struggle.

I think that, in the end, is why we've had protests and why there is so much interest in and response to the production.

Of course the discussion which seems most enriching to me is the one which takes please once people have seen the production - even when I disagree with the views expressed and it strays quickly into politics and away from the opera itself.

But it is in the nature of art which engages in live, difficult subjects that the response will itself be live and difficult. And to be honest, that is part of its value.

Chuck Strum also asks:

You appear to have a very poor attitude toward those protesting the Opera.They have very legitimate concerns and are made up of a very diverse group.The Met is probably not the place for such a controversial piece.It would have made more sense off Broadway.

You are misinformed.

At a recent ISGAP meeting i was impressed by the passion and clarity of Dr Small in his genuine concern about antisemitism and in his wise advice that "the moment we see our own face in the face of the other is the moment we become human." I applaud this position.

But your posts clearly show that you do not know the opera, which neither glorifies nor celebrates the murder of Leon Klinghoffer.

My position is that the admirable arguments of some of the protestors have been badly misapplied to an opera which has nothing to do with them.

operanut78 says:

People who are protesting should see opera and THEN form an opinion about it.

Honestly, i think that many of them are not really protesting about the opera. They are protesting in order to raise awareness about antisemitism (a real and present danger in the world) - and have been poorly advised that the opera is a suitable hook to hang that argument on.

Tom replies to Ruth about the two ways he depicted Klinghoffer’s murder:

Partly it connected with the decision to stage Omar's Aria as a memory, in which he was being prepared to fight and die for his beliefs (which connects with the first staging), partly with the Marilyn Klinghoffer's terrible experience of hearing the shot and paying no attention to it (relating to the second staging) and partly the importance of showing the horror of the killing itself. It is the tragedy at the heart of the opera.

Rachel Blair asks:

Are there any symbols unique to the Met staging? Is there a possibility of an HD recording going on the Met on demand, at least? Were you and the cast afraid to walk out on opening night, with all the threats? What is your personal favorite scene from the production and why? Also, congratulations to you all for a celebrated opening night (especially given the circumstances). I wish I could see it, but I’m stuck out in California.

Thanks

During the first part of the creative process, there was a lot of quite angry objection to the staging of the opera in the digital media. Because it's hard to gauge exactly who is writing this at any point, it can indeed be intimidating.

Some of the company therefore went and met the demonstrators at the launch of the Met season - and i attended a meeting organised by them to recruit volunteers to sit in their "caravan of wheelchairs". Seeing that they were passionate people, who could be chatted to (if not agreed with) helped to dispel the fear.

leedsopera asks:

I’m looking forward to seeing the production in a few weeks. The controversy is deeply painful to me, but I strongly support the arts as a medium for addressing social issues. QUESTIONS: Are their changes with this production in response to the critics of the opera?

Not consciously, no.

But of course the sensitivity of the subject means that we were careful in the choices we made while staging it.

Janice Isaac asks:

I saw it on opening night, and it was beautiful, so thank you. I was interested in the choice to make Omar a dancer. I loved it, but I was wondering what inspired you to do that.

Thank you

In the opera as written, the part of Omar (and we should note that the hi-jackers in the opera are only very loosely based on the characters of the historical hi-jackers) has a single aria which is written for a Mezzo Soprano to sing.

It is also clear that the opera was originally conceived to include choreography as part of its theatrical language.

In this production, I decide do make Omar's aria a voice from his past, which he remembers, and to cast Omar as a dancer.

This enabled us to investigate his experience as the youngest of the hi-jackers who, in our staging, is ordered to shoot Leon Klinghoffer.

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