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

RuthSpencer has replied to Tom’s earlier question about whether she saw it live and what she made of the double staging:

Hi Tom -- yes! I did. I saw it on opening night. The staging of the first scene (with Klinghoffer's back to us) is striking. The sunset, the image of Klinghoffer by the railing... it's almost beautiful. But, considering the controversy surrounding the production, I was expecting something more violent, which is what I got from watching the second staging (the blood spatter, etc.)

Very interested to hear your thoughts on why you chose to represent the moment this way.

RuthSpencer24 October 2014 6:26pm

Patricia Contino asks:

First of all, I hope the trouble won’t discourage you from coming back to NYC to direct again. It is unfair and misdirected.

Is there any chance that the Met production will be filmed/recorded?

i think that a radio station has just offered to broadcast it

TomMorris124 October 2014 6:24pm

CelesteSmith asks:

When the production opened in London, there was virtually no controversy, certainly no protest. Were you surprised by the New York reaction to the piece?

Our colleagues in New York warned us that some organisations would be likely to use the fact that the opera had been programmed as an opportunity to express their views.

TomMorris124 October 2014 6:23pm

Will Wilkin asks:

I was at the Monday night Met premier of this opera and saw no basis for calling it “anti-semitic.” Many operas have villains and the villain sings their part, this is hardly a “romanticization” or “glorification” of their villainy. Why are the terrorist villains of this opera not recognized as villains by the protestors? Surely the murderers in the opera are not portrayed as heroes.

Yes exactly.

It is one of the jobs of drama to represent moments when human beings commit horrific acts. Great works of art (Macbeth for example) actually allow us to see the humanity of character in question even while they are committing the horrific act.

This does not of course mean that such works of art condone the horrific act - even though they might confront us with the disturbing fact that the person who has committed it is human, like the rest of us.

That's why i find it so strange when people say that the opera shouldn't "humanise" the people who killed Leon Klinghoffer. They were already human.

TomMorris124 October 2014 6:22pm

Jonas Tarm asks:

What do you think would be the most ideal reaction from an audience member that has seen your production of The Death of Klinghoffer?

My ideal response is that people think about and reflect on the crime that the opera dramatises and - if they choose - the circumstances which might have led to it.

I'm also fascinated by the dilemma faced by the captain, whose entire crew and passengers have been taken hostage, and who has to work out whether or how to engage with the hi-jackers. I hope people will think and talk about what he could or should have done.

TomMorris124 October 2014 6:17pm

RuthSpencer asks:

The scene when Klinghoffer is shot appears twice in the production -- once when he faces away from the audience, and one when he faces us. Can you explain why you chose to do that?

The opera as it is set out in the score does not always define exactly what is happening at exactly what point. In setting out to direct the show, one of the challenges i set myself was to bring the story of the opera to the surface.

This is one such moment.

I'll happily answer your question but i'd be fascinated to hear first what you made of the double staging. Did you see it live?

TomMorris124 October 2014 6:14pm

Tom adds:

I might as well just say it here that the opera in no way glorifies murder, as any who have seen it will tell you.

TomMorris124 October 2014 6:08pm

ID9979685 asks:

I feel very saddened that protesters, around the world, have been permitted to shut down art, and deny people the opportunity to make up their own mind. You chose to go ahead. What made you feel it was worth pushing through despite all the risks to you and your brave cast? (and thank you for doing so).

Thank you

The positive thing is that even though some of the protestors very clearly didn't want the opera to go ahead, no one actually said it should be censored. And on the opening night, there was actually something positive about the frank and peaceful exchange of fiercely contradictory views which took place.

I will nonetheless pass on your thanks to the cast, who have indeed shown bravery in performing the show.

TomMorris124 October 2014 6:06pm

I’ll post his answers here as he types them too. The first questions was from me:

I’ve got a question: does Tom think that there is an increasingly hostile environment to artists around the world, with Exhibit B being cancelled in London after protests and the vandalism of Paul McCarthy’s sculpture Tree in Paris? Does he worry about it, and why does he think it’s more prevalent now?

That's a fascinating question

My impression of the protestors in New York was that there was a genuine fear among them - not about the opera, as it happens, but about a perceived rise in global antisemitism. This kind of fear can be contagious. When you're inside a creative process it can sometimes be intimidating too. I think this makes it more important to take stand in defence of art which some people might claim is offensive.

TomMorris124 October 2014 6:03pm

On Monday, John Adams’s opera The Death of Klinghoffer opened at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. It was greeted by protests outside and inside the venue – as well as a standing ovation.

On Friday at 1pm ET, Tom Morris, the director, will be online to answer your questions about his production.

The opera, which was first performed in 1991, is based on a real event; the hijacking of the cruise liner Achille Lauro in 1985 by the Palestinian Liberation Front. The terrorists murdered one passenger: Leon Klinghoffer, a Jewish American wheelchair user, whose body was thrown overboard.

Many – including Leon Klinghoffer’s daughters – people bitterly object to the way Adams’s opera draws links between the displacement of Palestinian people by Israel and Klinghoffer’s murder.

On Monday, speakers including former mayor of New York Rudolph Giuliani expressed their anger that the opera humanises and seeks to understand Klinghoffer’s killers. They also say that The Death of Klinghoffer is antisemitic, a charge rejected by the Met.

However, others say that this is a misrepresentation of the opera, which concludes with an aria by Klinghoffer’s wife expressing her anger and sadness. On Tuesday, the Guardian published the views of four New Yorkers who were at the first night at the Met. A second performance takes place on Friday night.

Morris is the artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in Bristol and, England, and in 2011 won a Tony award for best direction of a play for War House. Please post your questions for him now in the comment section below.