Opera Essentials: Festen

A quick guide to Mark-Anthony Turnage’s bold Olivier Award-winning opera, based on a cult film, which had its world premiere at the Royal Opera House in 2025.

Christian, the eldest son of Helge, returns home to the family's hotel to celebrate his father’s 60th birthday.  The celebration is full of friends, work colleagues and extended family, including Christian’s sister, Helena, and his estranged brother, Michael. The festivities commence, beginning with the ritual greetings and moving on to the celebratory meal, complete with obligatory sentimental songs, speeches and reminiscence. So far, so familiar. But when Christian rises to honour his father, far from the usual praise, his speech reveals home truths of such shocking brutality that surely nothing will be the same again.

Although the tone is often satirical and comic, Festen, which is based on the award-winning 1998 Danish film by Thomas Vinterberg, is, at its heart, a searing attack on our capacity for collective denial. At the 2025 Olivier Awards, Festen was honoured with the Tait Award for Best New Opera Production.

Quick Facts

Answering some of the most asked questions about Festen.

What does Festen mean? 

Festen is the Danish word for 'a celebration'.

How long is Festen? 

The performance lasts approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes with no interval.

Who wrote Festen? 

The music is composed by Mark-Anthony Turnage (Anna Nicole), with a libretto by Lee Hall (Billy Elliot).

What is the story of Festen? 

Festen is an adaption of a film of the same name by Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg.

History

Vinterberg and the Dogme 95 movement

Following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1998, Thomas Vinterberg’s Festen was awarded the festival’s prestigious Jury Prize. Only 28 at the time, Vinterberg would go on to direct several critically acclaimed films, including, most recently, Another Round (2020), starring Mads Mikkelsen.

Not only did it launch Vinterberg’s career, Festen also kickstarted the Dogme 95 film movement – a movement whose manifesto was co-authored by Vinterberg and fellow Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier (Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Melancholia – all three of which have been adapted into operas). Informed by ten rules, or ‘vows of chastity’, Dogme 95 insisted on authenticity: its aim was to ‘purify’ filmmaking, stripping away artifice to allow greater focus on narrative and performance.

Cinematic drama

There are allusions and references to Festen in the HBO series Succession. The pilot episode was named 'Celebration' – a direct reference to the film. The rest of the series uses a similar filming style to Festen and the other films of the Dogme 95 genre.

In 2004, an English language stage adaptation of Festen by David Eldridge had its premiere at the Almeida Theatre. The play has since appeared in the West End and on Broadway. Mark-Anthony Turnage and Lee Hall’s Festen marks the first time Vinterberg’s narrative appears on the operatic stage.

Festen Synopsis

Festen is suitable for ages 16+ The opera contains themes of child sexual abuse, suicide and addiction. It also contains very strong language. There are depictions of racist behaviour and violence.

Characters
The Story

When a wealthy hotel owner gathers friends and loved ones to celebrate his 60th birthday at a family-run hotel in the Danish countryside, his children must confront the pain of their past – and the man responsible.

Synopsis

The events take place in the summer of 1989, at a family-run hotel in the Danish countryside. 

ACT I SCENE I: ARRIVALS
At Helge and Else Klingefeldt’s hotel, friends, business associates and family gather to celebrate Helge’s 60th birthday. The guests herald Helge’s arrival with a Danish birthday song. Helge asks his eldest son, Christian, to say a few words about his recently deceased sister, Linda, at the forthcoming dinner, Christian reassures Helge that he is prepared.

SCENE II: GETTING READY
Christian and Pia go to his room before dinner. Michael and Mette get ready in their room. In the bathroom where Linda died, Helena and Lars find a hidden letter. 

ACT II, SCENE I: THE PARTY
At the dinner party, guests take their seats. Christian begins the evening’s toasts, but rather than honour his father, reveals shocking family secrets. More toasts are made by the family. Christian continues to make the guests confront the truth. Not believing him, Michael and others lock him in the wine cellar to silence him. Michael leads the guests in a song insulting Helena’s boyfriend, Gbatokai. Helena reads aloud the letter found in Linda’s room.

ACT II, SCENE II
Helge hides in the kitchen. Michael finds him for a violent confrontation. Guests continue to party next door. Christian thinks about his dead sister.

ACT III, CODA: THE NEXT MORNING
Guests arrive for breakfast, greeting each other and Helge enters.

Support

The auditorium will stay open for 30 minutes after the end of the performance to allow for private reflection. 

If you’ve been affected by any of the issues raised in Festen, you could consider contacting:

  • NAPAC - National Association for People Abused in Childhood: by telephone on 0808 801 0331 (Monday to Thursday 10am–9pm, Friday 10am–6pm) or by email at support@napac.org.uk
  • Samaritans: by telephone on 116 123

The below full, detailed synopsis contains key plot points and descriptions of what happens in the opera. This includes some content that may cause strong emotional responses. If you would like to avoid plot spoilers, please do not click the '+' signs below.

Pictures and Videos

The family gathers round to celebrate Helge's birthday.
But at the party, a dark past is revealed.

Meet the creatives

Composer: Mark-Anthony Turange

English composer Mark-Anthony Turnage is recognised for his unique contributions to British music over the last three decades. Turnage’s first opera, Greek, established his reputation as an artist forging a path between modernism and tradition, with a blend of jazz and classical styles. He has previously collaborated with The Royal Opera for Anna Nicole (Royal Opera House, 2011) and Coraline (ROH and Barbican Theatre, 2018; tours in Freiburg, Lille, Stockholm and Melbourne). Turnage is Research Fellow in Composition at the Royal College of Music, and is published by Boosey & Hawkes, with works before 2003 published by Schott Music. He was awarded a CBE in the 2015 Queen's Birthday honours. 

Director: Richard Jones

British director Richard Jones has directed operas and plays for the international stage for over thirty years. His most recent productions include The Birthday Party for Theatre Royal Bath and Machinal, Endgame and Pygmalion for the Old Vic Theatre, The Valkyrie and The Rhinegold for English National Opera. He has created many works for The Royal Opera, including Alcina, Samson et Dalila, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, L’heure espagnole, The Gambler, Il trittico, Gloriana, Boris Godunov, La bohème and La clemenza di Tito. He has previously collaborated with Mark-Anthony Turnage in the creation of Anna Nicole. He is the winner of nine Olivier awards most recently for Alcina at the Royal Opera House, and three South Bank Show Awards for Katya Kabanova (ROH), the Mastersingers of Nuremberg (English National Opera) and The Rhinegold (ENO). He was awarded a CBE in 2015.  

Designer: Miriam Buether

Miriam Buether is an award-winning stage designer working internationally in theatre, opera and dance. Originally from Berlin, she trained in theatre design at Central Saint Martin’s, London. Recent work includes Kyoto (Royal Shakespeare Company), Stranger Things: The First Shadow (West End), Prima Facie (West End and Broadway), Patriots and Spring Awakening (Almeida), The 47th (Old Vic), To Kill a Mockingbird (Broadway, West End), The Jungle (Young Vic, West End, New York), Akram Khan’s The Jungle Book and Caryl Churchill’s What If If Only (Royal Court). Her opera work includes Aida, Boris Godunov, Anna Nicole and Suor Angelica (The Royal Opera), The Dead City (Die Tote Stadt), La fanciulla del West and Turandot (English National Opera) and The Sacrifice (Welsh National Opera). In 2024 she won the Olivier Award for Best Set Design and the Critics’ Circle Award for Stranger Things: The First Shadow. She received the Evening Standard Best Design Award in 2010 for Earthquakes in London (National Theatre) and Sucker Punch (Royal Court), and again in 2018 for The Jungle.