Inaugurally performed in Berlin, Weber’s famous fright opera about the young hunter Max who makes a pact with the devil, staged as a splatter movie in the deep dark pine forests of Germany. »This is not a romantic forest, but a dark dungeon in which people become monsters.« [Bayerischer Rundfunk] The Spanish director Calixto Bieito once more remains true to his penchant for shattering audiences’ expectations with his handling of proto-German opera romance.