 David McVicar by Nikki Kastner. |
David McVicar is not only one of Britain's top young opera directors but is also openly gay and openly HIV positive. He spoke to Martin Flynn
A handsome gay man in the prime of his life, David McVicar neither minces nor minces his words. Over the last few years he has taken the staid world of opera by storm.
He survived an unhappy childhood in Glasgow: "all I can say is that it was incredibly painful, incredibly dark and very scarring," and after studying at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, McVicar was offered a job with Opera North in Leeds.
 Daniella Nardini (Anna from 'This Life', some will recall) in McVicar's Camille appearing nationally now. photo: Richard Haughton. |
"I didn't find it, it found me. I'd run my own theatre company in Glasgow and was directing drama and got side-tracked into opera. My work isn't political and I'm not a polemicist. If anything I'm a seducer. I believe theatre should be a sensual and a seductive experience. That's what I've always tried to provide people with - an overwhelming assault on the senses."
Your version of Mozart's Magic Flute got some extreme reviews?
"I believe it was one of the best shows I've done in my life, but it had the worst reviews of my career so far. It's a very dark piece about dying and the trials of life - very emotional stuff. But no other composer has ever been so well able to express levels of existence and deep emotion as Mozart. The music of his last few years has such indescribable beauty and perfection."
When were you diagnosed with HIV?
"Only a year and a half ago. I was put in isolation in hospital with double pneumonia while I was working for the Chicago Opera. My seroconversion was unbelievably severe. But I've never stopped working, just carried on and on and on."
 McVicar's direction of Puccini's Tosca on stage at the Coliseum, London. |
Why do you work so hard?
"I'm calling a halt to it now because I want some time for me and don't want to work myself into the ground. I do need time now to come to terms mentally with what has happened to me.
"I've actually been incredibly healthy since I've been on treatments. My viral load is undetectable and my CD4 count has bounced back up. I haven't had any drug side effects but I've been through some very difficult times mentally.
I'm trying to take a step back from work because I've been going straight from one job to another recently. HIV has changed my whole attitude to life and I don't see working all the time as a major success anymore. I want to find other ways of enjoying life."
How do you get the drive to do all this work?
"I choose the pieces I do very carefully. I've always been very driven but since my diagnosis I find it harder to do so much. I have less physical energy and mental certainty but I think my work has improved immeasurably since I've been HIV positive. I'm very focused now about what I choose to put on stage."
You've been accused of being difficult by some journalists and have been called an 'enfant terrible' and an 'angry young man'?
"A lot of arts journalists are very lazy. They know very little about what they're writing about. There's nothing 'enfant terrible' about me whatsoever. My work is intensely classical. Journalists write bullshit and that annoys me."
Are you an outsider in the world of opera?
"Opera is run by middle class fifty-somethings from Oxbridge. I do speak my mind and I am upfront and I don't think they like that. But fuck 'em, I don't care."
You're also very open about your sexuality and HIV status. That must have taken courage?
"The opera world is very small and there were lots of stories going around about me. People kept coming up and asking me if I was all right. People were speculating why I was rushed to hospital and why I was in isolation. I just decided to come out and empower myself.
"Being open helped me cope. I don't like secrecy and I think HIV should be normalised. Some people did run a mile but anyone who has a problem with my HIV status I don't see anymore. It's their problem, not mine."
What do you do outside of opera?
"Really boring things - cooking, doing my garden in Islington. I am optimistic but have suffered from terrible depression. I just wait for it to pass, that's all you can do. I'm trying to cope on my own, but it's very hard. I'd love to go to an HIV support group but I don't have the time. I'd like to fall in love."
Many people see opera as just for the rich and an elitist art form?
"This puny little country has never liked opera. This is the country that produced Shakespeare but then closed down all the theatres 20 years after his death. Anyway, what's wrong with a little elitism from an art form that can be difficult to grasp? Opera often explores painful things like brutal sex, murder and suicide and you leave the theatre with your soul shredded. But that's the point of great art.
"Some people find hip hop completely inaccessible but nobody calls it elitist. No one says Barbra Streisand is inaccessible but it costs just as much to see her than to go to Covent Garden."
What message would you give to other HIV positive people?
"Don't
keep your head in the sand, try to find out as much as possible about the disease.
HIV is not your fault, so don't blame yourself. Try and take power over it."
Happiness?
"I'm working on it. But people are always prattling on about how happy they are and I don't believe a word of it."
What's it like working with the big stars of opera?
"None of them are bigger stars than me. But I usually get on incredibly well with the really big stars."
Are you a prima donna?
"Yes, I've thrown many strops. But I never scream at the cast."
David McVicar's work this summer includes: Alcina at the English National Opera (www.eno.org) from 16 April, La Boheme at the Glyndebourne Festival (www.glydebourne.com) from 20 May. For details of the Camille UK tour, telephone Lyric Hammersmith on 020 8741 2311
