‘If you can’t stand the heat stay out of the kitchen” 

For opera double bill, The Stronger / Hagar, I designed a multifunctional and transformative set. In The Stronger, the space begins as the vibrant front-of-house of a restaurant. During the overture, the walls and ceiling of this space slowly slide back, while the kitchen moves in through two translucent rice paper doors. This moment turns the set inside out—suddenly, the audience is viewing the scene from the other side, with the restaurant now in the background.

A central motif in the design is fire, symbolically tied to both the act of cooking and the passion of love. In the third act, the story culminates in a dramatic accident in which the entire set appears to burn down. While no real flames are used, we rely on a carefully choreographed interplay of light and smoke to ignite the audience’s imagination. The partially transparent wooden structure of the restaurant becomes a canvas for this illusion.

The rhythm and repetition of the wooden framework draw inspiration from traditional Japanese architectural joinery. At the same time, the materiality—raw, natural wood—pays homage to the aesthetic of the acclaimed Danish restaurant Noma, blending Nordic minimalism with Japanese craftsmanship.

Photo’s by Marco Borggreve