:00:09. > :00:14.as of today, based on the information and facts as we know
:00:15. > :00:16.them, we are now investigating these horrific acts as an act of
:00:17. > :00:18.terrorism. A mass shooting
:00:19. > :00:20.on American soil that may now be Is this a game changer for US
:00:21. > :00:25.security? The suspect's house is opened up
:00:26. > :00:28.to the media, as US authorities say they believe one of the
:00:29. > :00:32.killers swore allegiance to Isis. We talk to George Bush's former
:00:33. > :00:34.homeland security advisor. A win for Labour,
:00:35. > :00:38.after a tumultuous week. Our political panel is here to
:00:39. > :00:45.discuss an extraordinary five days. France goes to the polls for the
:00:46. > :00:54.first time since the Paris attacks. The Front National could be
:00:55. > :01:04.the big winners. I think there is a big problem with
:01:05. > :01:08.is lamb. Is lamb once Sharia to be all over the world. -- is
:01:09. > :01:10.And in tonight's Artsnight, Arna Matronic, singer from
:01:11. > :01:19.the Scissor Sisters, looks at how robots are shaping popular culture.
:01:20. > :01:28.When does America start calling a mass shooting an act of terror?
:01:29. > :01:40.Tonight, the FBI confirmed the investigation into the San Bernadino
:01:41. > :01:42.killings had become one of terrorism, after one of the
:01:43. > :01:46.found to have sworn allegiance to so called Islamic State on Facebook.
:01:47. > :01:49.The California shooting, in which 14 people died and another 21 were
:01:50. > :01:52.injured, was the deadliest mass shooting in the US for three years.
:01:53. > :01:54.It appeared to have been triggered by a workplace dispute.
:01:55. > :01:57.However, when police raided the home of the suspects, both dead,
:01:58. > :01:59.they found pipe bombs and 6,000 rounds of ammunition,
:02:00. > :02:06.suggesting attacks on a much bigger scale were being planned.
:02:07. > :02:09.But the growth of what may be home-grown extremism in a country
:02:10. > :02:11.already rife with gun massacres could be
:02:12. > :02:23.International media poured through the apartment belonging to the
:02:24. > :02:28.couple behind the shootings in San Bernardino. Surging among the debris
:02:29. > :02:31.of daily life for clues to an attack which today the FBI confirmed they
:02:32. > :02:34.are treating as a terrorist incident. The couple had tried to
:02:35. > :02:47.destroy their phones and digital records but police did discover a
:02:48. > :02:55.message pledging allegiance to Isis and rounds of ammunition and
:02:56. > :02:59.bomb-making equipment. The shooters knew the victims. That's pretty
:03:00. > :03:04.unusual for a terrorism type case. What we typically see is mass
:03:05. > :03:08.shooters will often killed their family or friends or people who have
:03:09. > :03:14.wronged them before going on a spree. With terrorists it requires
:03:15. > :03:19.you have an operational component, a goal you're trying to accomplish.
:03:20. > :03:22.You wouldn't necessarily target people close to you when your actual
:03:23. > :03:27.target is normally something more symbolic. This is one of the
:03:28. > :03:34.attackers. He was born in America and worked as an ire at -- and
:03:35. > :03:37.environmental health specialist. His wife who died alongside him was
:03:38. > :03:41.originally from Pakistan will stop they lived in Saudi Arabia before
:03:42. > :03:46.moving to America. Police found no evidence they had direct contact
:03:47. > :03:51.with Isis. So far it appears these people were completely under the
:03:52. > :03:55.radar. Maybe they were communicating with like-minded individuals in ways
:03:56. > :04:03.that have not been discovered yet and that too will be a challenge for
:04:04. > :04:06.law enforcement and intelligence. If they were essentially radicalising
:04:07. > :04:12.each other and it just came out of nowhere, that will be a deeply,
:04:13. > :04:20.deeply concerning development for our authorities. Farooq's family
:04:21. > :04:26.find it hard to believe that the quiet man they knew could kill his
:04:27. > :04:28.colleagues in cold blood. I find it hard to believe he could do
:04:29. > :04:35.something like this. Especially because they Wahab league married. I
:04:36. > :04:39.think to myself if I had asked him how he was doing before, if I had
:04:40. > :04:43.any inclination, maybe I could have stopped it. Last night there was a
:04:44. > :04:48.vigil for the victims in this small IT not far from Los Angeles. This
:04:49. > :04:51.was America's deadliest shooting since the massacre at Sandy Hook
:04:52. > :05:02.high school. She would never want anyone sad for
:05:03. > :05:08.her. She would want them happy. She would not want them crying or
:05:09. > :05:13.anything. That's why I'm taking this and turning it into something to
:05:14. > :05:16.make me strong. Previous shootings had provoked calls for greater
:05:17. > :05:19.restrictions on gun laws. Did the fact that this was a terrorist
:05:20. > :05:25.incident finally shift public and political opinion. While this could
:05:26. > :05:30.become more of an issue in the presidential campaign. That might
:05:31. > :05:36.have some long-term impact in future legislation. But for the near-term,
:05:37. > :05:43.I think the existing camps will solidify their own positions and you
:05:44. > :05:46.will hear lots of people saying if only the people in that building had
:05:47. > :05:54.weapons, this never would have happened. As America mourns,
:05:55. > :05:58.investigators will focus on what level of involvement, if any, Isis
:05:59. > :06:00.had on these attacks. Politicians will focus on how that affects
:06:01. > :06:03.policy domestically and abroad. Just before we came on air I spoke
:06:04. > :06:06.to Fran Townsend, former Homeland Security and Counterrorism
:06:07. > :06:08.Advisor to President George W Bush. I began by asking her what she
:06:09. > :06:21.thought had brought I think it's a combination of
:06:22. > :06:28.factors. One, the female shooter, they told us today that she had
:06:29. > :06:32.pledged her allegiance to the leader of Isis on her Facebook page. When
:06:33. > :06:36.you take that together with what we are now learning about the amount of
:06:37. > :06:41.ammunition, the amount of planning, the number of pipe bonds. There's a
:06:42. > :06:45.number of factors, the male shooter had grown out his beard, stopped
:06:46. > :06:50.attending his mosque. When you look at all of the fact together, they
:06:51. > :06:55.now feel comfortable to say this clearly was an act of terror. To
:06:56. > :07:00.your mind does this sound like individuals who have been
:07:01. > :07:06.radicalised, extremists? Yes. The FBI director as much as said that
:07:07. > :07:11.they were radicalised, certainly inspired by terror groups. The
:07:12. > :07:15.question that is outstanding that I think investigators will continue to
:07:16. > :07:19.look at is, was there any more direct connection to a foreign
:07:20. > :07:22.terrorist organisation? It's interesting that the wording has
:07:23. > :07:27.changed now and we're calling this an act of terror. I guess if you
:07:28. > :07:31.step back from it you could say any kind of mass shooting is
:07:32. > :07:37.automatically an act of terror. Does this seem like a game changer to
:07:38. > :07:43.you? Yes, for the FBI using the label of terrorism, it really has a
:07:44. > :07:47.pretty distinct meaning. Regrettably in this country we have had a number
:07:48. > :07:51.of mass shootings by individuals that were emotionally disturbed, one
:07:52. > :07:57.might say, or motivated by some political cause. A week ago we had
:07:58. > :08:03.literally a crazy person who went into... We don't think of that as
:08:04. > :08:07.terror. The FBI director labels this as an act of terror but what he's
:08:08. > :08:12.really referring to is this connection to radical Islamic
:08:13. > :08:17.extremism. Does that change how America deals with the threat, then?
:08:18. > :08:23.I think what changes is not so much the label but what we've seen is
:08:24. > :08:28.Isis and these terrorist groups targeting soft targets. Places where
:08:29. > :08:31.we don't think of having large security presence or screening, this
:08:32. > :08:36.is not an airport or a military base or a Government building. When they
:08:37. > :08:40.start going into office buildings or cafes or movie theatres, those soft
:08:41. > :08:45.targets are nearly impossible to protect. I do think that has an
:08:46. > :08:49.effect on Americans feeling quite vulnerable in a way that they
:08:50. > :08:54.haven't before. America it's long been recognised has a major problem
:08:55. > :09:00.with gun crime. Do you think this alters the way it looks at its
:09:01. > :09:04.legislation around arms? You know, as I mentioned, we've had a number
:09:05. > :09:10.of mass shootings that have happened at schools and movie theatres. It
:09:11. > :09:15.always raises this gun debate between those who wish to see more
:09:16. > :09:19.gun control and those who feel very strongly about the freedom to bear
:09:20. > :09:25.arms under the second Amendment. In this particular case, these guns
:09:26. > :09:28.were legally purchased. I think you will see a continued debate but
:09:29. > :09:32.regrettably I don't know if it will go further than the usual political
:09:33. > :09:38.back and forth that we see after one of these tragic events. After the
:09:39. > :09:42.Paris shootings, we had many governors certainly of Republican
:09:43. > :09:45.states saying no more Syrian refugees, it's all got to be a
:09:46. > :09:49.clamp-down on the sort of people coming into America. This looks as
:09:50. > :09:54.if its home-grown, it's already right within the country, doesn't
:09:55. > :09:59.it? That's right and that a particular challenge for our Lorin
:10:00. > :10:03.Forstmann. The FBI director has said we have ourselves to hundred 50
:10:04. > :10:08.foreign fighters in this country, 900 subjects of investigation who
:10:09. > :10:12.have some ties to terrorist organisations and full
:10:13. > :10:17.investigations in all of the US's 50 states. So the magnitude of the
:10:18. > :10:21.problem inside the United States, the challenge for law enforcement is
:10:22. > :10:24.really substantial and the FBI director needs additional
:10:25. > :10:28.resources, I think, just as in Great Britain you increase the number of
:10:29. > :10:33.agents in MI5 to deal with the problem, I think we will have to
:10:34. > :10:35.look the same way here and adding additional FBI agents. Thank you for
:10:36. > :10:38.your time. No one, but no one could have
:10:39. > :10:41.predicted quite how the past week The party that five days ago faced
:10:42. > :10:49.possible revolt over a Commons vote is tonight looking
:10:50. > :10:52.a lot more at ease with itself. A comfortable Labour win in Oldham
:10:53. > :10:54.gives Jeremy Corbyn the filip of his first electoral endorsement
:10:55. > :10:57.since he became leader. And the free vote
:10:58. > :10:59.on Syria air strikes showed he still had plenty of supporters within
:11:00. > :11:07.his Shadow Cabinet. Our party is, not just here in old
:11:08. > :11:13.but all over the country, it shows the way we have driven the Torres
:11:14. > :11:18.back on tax credits, on police cuts, an the whole
:11:19. > :11:25.and -- agenda and narrative. It shows how deep rooted and strong our
:11:26. > :11:26.party, the Labour Party is, for the whole of Britain. Thank you very
:11:27. > :11:28.much everybody. But within these five days we've
:11:29. > :11:31.also seen the emergence of a newly empowered Shadow Foreign
:11:32. > :11:33.Secretary - Hillary Benn, who And of course a government who won
:11:34. > :11:41.the Commons vote, but still has to convince the public the course
:11:42. > :11:43.of action is the right one. Danny Finkelstein, Tory Peer,
:11:44. > :11:49.Polly Toynbee of the Guardian, and James Schneider,
:11:50. > :11:56.an activist with Momentum. I'm sure you've got much more grand
:11:57. > :12:01.titles and they will appear shortly on the screens.
:12:02. > :12:06.On Monday did you think that you would be feeling like this on
:12:07. > :12:12.Friday? Difficult to say what I was thinking on Friday, -- on Monday, it
:12:13. > :12:18.has been an emotionally tense week, we have been debating whether we
:12:19. > :12:24.should be bombing Syria. As your introduction showed, in the end, we
:12:25. > :12:27.have come out of it pretty strongly. Jeremy Harris shown strong
:12:28. > :12:32.leadership, the overwhelming majority of members backed him, the
:12:33. > :12:36.overwhelming majority of the Shadow Cabinet and MPs backed him. --
:12:37. > :12:44.Jeremy has shown strongly to ship. Tom Watson, this morning, said that
:12:45. > :12:48.your movement was a bit of a rabble, in irrelevance. I think we played a
:12:49. > :12:52.role, providing the tool is a Borders and others to write to their
:12:53. > :12:57.MPs, to say what they think about whether we should be bombing Syria.
:12:58. > :13:04.And over 30,000 people e-mailed their MPs to say, please do not bomb
:13:05. > :13:09.Syria. That had a sizeable effect. You have a message for Tom Watson,
:13:10. > :13:13.who has called you and irrelevance? I do not wish to respond. We have
:13:14. > :13:18.shown we are an effective. White poly, you would not call yourself a
:13:19. > :13:22.supporter of Jeremy Corbyn but this has been a solid victory. A very
:13:23. > :13:30.good victory for Labour. Very important that they should win it.
:13:31. > :13:34.-- Polly, you would not call yourself a supporter of Jeremy
:13:35. > :13:38.Corbyn. Jim McMahon is a very effective leader of the council,
:13:39. > :13:42.moving his way up. You are deliberately saying this has nothing
:13:43. > :13:50.to do with Jeremy Corbyn. I think you have got to remember that
:13:51. > :13:53.by-elections are mostly won by oppositions, Ed Miliband one lot of
:13:54. > :14:00.them, particularly early on in his time, Michael Foot won a lot of
:14:01. > :14:05.by-elections during the early 1980s. By-elections are not very good
:14:06. > :14:09.predictors of general elections. Where we are in the polls is more or
:14:10. > :14:13.less the same as where we were at the general election, the Tories are
:14:14. > :14:18.up a bit, Labour down a bit, not a significant change. What we are
:14:19. > :14:22.looking for, what Labour needs, is any sign that Labour can bring over
:14:23. > :14:30.at least some conservative voters in the crucial 94 marginal seats. That
:14:31. > :14:34.is the great test. Old is not a good test of that. What is good news
:14:35. > :14:41.about old, it sort of Ukip. Ukip was the great threat in places like
:14:42. > :14:47.Oldham, so we were told. Danny, a lot of people trying to write of
:14:48. > :14:51.Jeremy Corbyn. -- Oldham is not a good test of that. People trying to
:14:52. > :14:55.see of Jeremy Corbyn, he is proving resilient. This week will have
:14:56. > :15:01.strengthened him, I believe that before the Oldham result, which I
:15:02. > :15:06.did not anticipate, I did not anticipate Labour would do so well,
:15:07. > :15:10.because I had received reports that that was not the case on the
:15:11. > :15:13.doorstep. In the end it was consistent with by-election results
:15:14. > :15:18.for opposition parties, will be speaking, that is not what had been
:15:19. > :15:24.anticipated. -- broadly speaking. Jeremy Corbyn depends on the support
:15:25. > :15:28.of a broad Labour activist base, who elected him almost precisely because
:15:29. > :15:32.of his views on this kind of issue. The more the Labour Party talk about
:15:33. > :15:35.it, the stronger he gets. The idea that Hilary Benn has strengthened
:15:36. > :15:39.himself by his speech, however effective it may have been with some
:15:40. > :15:43.people, is to misunderstand the new geography of the Labour Party. He
:15:44. > :15:47.has not strengthen himself, he has weakened himself, it is difficult
:15:48. > :15:50.for someone with the position he has taken to command mass political
:15:51. > :15:54.support of the Labour Party. If that is true, you are now looking at a
:15:55. > :15:57.Labour Party that appeals either to Labour members or to his
:15:58. > :16:04.parliamentary party, you will not get both. It is more serious than
:16:05. > :16:08.that, either appeals to the party members or the voters, that is the
:16:09. > :16:12.divide. That is Lee. Yellow I don't think that is the case, the
:16:13. > :16:15.overwhelming majority of members were opposed to air strikes on
:16:16. > :16:24.this, as were the overwhelming majority of MPs, slightly fewer MPs,
:16:25. > :16:28.75%, members, 66%, MPs. There is not a huge split that has been spoken
:16:29. > :16:34.about. The Labour Party view is different from the general public's
:16:35. > :16:41.view. You have to say about the Oldham result, it is consistent with
:16:42. > :16:44.the theory that he can be electorally appealing. There are
:16:45. > :16:46.more plausible explanations for the outcome but you cannot reject that.
:16:47. > :16:51.Jeremy Corbyn has strengthened themselves with the membership, the
:16:52. > :16:54.problem is, Polly has putted well, can he appeal to mainstream
:16:55. > :16:59.conservative voters and get a swing back from the Conservatives? There
:17:00. > :17:04.is a dialogue between Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters and the
:17:05. > :17:09.supporters through Momentum and his supporters and nobody is inside that
:17:10. > :17:12.debate. I don't think so, Jeremy Corbyn is reaching out to the
:17:13. > :17:17.public, come to the meetings, go to address the public -- go to the
:17:18. > :17:20.meetings where he addresses the public, is reaching out to the
:17:21. > :17:23.people, his leadership is not characterised by sitting inside
:17:24. > :17:27.Westminster and being a part of the discussion. On the question of the
:17:28. > :17:31.war, oddly enough, in a lot of people's mind, he is closer to where
:17:32. > :17:37.the public are, because the public were swinging against the war. They
:17:38. > :17:41.were swinging in favour of Labour's official position.
:17:42. > :17:46.The war is quite a bad test of where Jeremy Corbyn may stand in peoples
:17:47. > :17:51.minds. End of the week, biggest question I have, is he any good?
:17:52. > :17:55.There is definitely a constituency in the party and in the country for
:17:56. > :17:59.the view that he expressed, although whether it is big enough is another
:18:00. > :18:02.question. Watching him in the House of Commons, that was not a good
:18:03. > :18:07.deployment of the argument, some people in the SNP, for example,
:18:08. > :18:12.deployed it much better. Jeremy Corbyn's decision to give a free
:18:13. > :18:16.vote was not strategically correct. I do have some questions... I think
:18:17. > :18:26.he has emerged stronger, because the party expressed support, but I was
:18:27. > :18:30.not impressed by his conduct. David Cameron, number ten, a good week in
:18:31. > :18:32.terms of the vote, but privately, there are real worry is these
:18:33. > :18:38.bullying allegations, which go to somewhere much deeper. Those are
:18:39. > :18:43.very important, my own view is that that does not have a very big
:18:44. > :18:46.political effect, what might have an effect, you were right to say this,
:18:47. > :18:50.a very big, substantial policy decision made, and it is extremely
:18:51. > :18:56.difficult to see the way through in Syria. With the government actions,
:18:57. > :19:00.which I did think were the right thing to do, there cannot be enough
:19:01. > :19:03.by themselves. You are in a situation which is difficult to
:19:04. > :19:08.limit. That is one of the bigger political situation. Waiting for
:19:09. > :19:13.things to go wrong and then saying, here is the man that told you it
:19:14. > :19:18.would. We do not want things to go wrong, lives are at stake, but we
:19:19. > :19:20.think things will go wrong, and Jeremy Corbyn has been
:19:21. > :19:24.underestimated consistently by his opponents, once again, by large
:19:25. > :19:30.sections of the media and by his opponents. Thank you very much.
:19:31. > :19:33.The first test of public political opinion since the attacks on Paris
:19:34. > :19:40.come this weekend, with regional elections in France on Sunday.
:19:41. > :19:44.The polls suggest the far-right party, the Front National,
:19:45. > :19:48.They are looking to win between two and four of the 13 regions, which
:19:49. > :19:52.would be seen as a springboard for a push for the presidency in 2017.
:19:53. > :19:53.One of those regions is the South East,
:19:54. > :19:55.from where Gabriel Gatehouse sent this
:19:56. > :20:06.This little town voted in a Front Nationale mayor last year, so these
:20:07. > :20:11.citizens know what it might look like to have a far right candidate
:20:12. > :20:13.running things. He has improved security, planted flowers, spruced
:20:14. > :20:22.up the place, according to this lady. These players are divided, one
:20:23. > :20:26.says, he has not done much. Another says, he has done more than the last
:20:27. > :20:34.guy. This is your father 's old car... This man, the mayor, it turns
:20:35. > :20:37.out, is a bit of a character, 40 years old, a businessman from
:20:38. > :20:42.Paris. The trouble with the Front Nationale, he tells me, is this,
:20:43. > :20:49.people like their policies, but they don't like to be associated with
:20:50. > :20:56.them. -- 40-something. When you open a Front Nationale office, you have
:20:57. > :21:07.to do the same thing... Searching for the right analogy... A sex
:21:08. > :21:13.shop! Really? Exactly the same thing, it has to be seen, but nobody
:21:14. > :21:16.can see who is inside! LAUGHTER There is a serious side to this,
:21:17. > :21:22.Front Nationale is trying to shed the image of a party of thuggish
:21:23. > :21:25.neo-Nazis. They say that they have no problem with foreigners, or
:21:26. > :21:31.immigrants, so long as they are patriotic. I love the people who
:21:32. > :21:38.love my country, I do not like the people who hate it. To be clear,
:21:39. > :21:43.anti-Semitism... Tolerated? It was never in my time tolerated. What
:21:44. > :21:55.about anti-Islamic feeling? I think there is a huge problem with Islam.
:21:56. > :22:03.It wants sharia law to be all over the world. This region, known as
:22:04. > :22:06.Provence and got busier is one of the most diverse in the country,
:22:07. > :22:13.including Marseilles, the first port of entry for generations of
:22:14. > :22:16.immigrants. And the Paris attacks are put the spotlight on security
:22:17. > :22:19.and on the Muslim population of France. -- Cote d'Azure. This is
:22:20. > :22:25.fertile territory for the Front Nationale. At their rallies, the
:22:26. > :22:29.faithful can sense victory within their grasp. Their candidate here in
:22:30. > :22:33.the south is the 25-year-old granddaughter of the party's
:22:34. > :22:39.founder, John Marine Le Pen, projecting herself as a breath of
:22:40. > :22:45.fresh air, innate politics dominated by the out of touch elite. --
:22:46. > :22:47.Jean-Marie Le Pen. They are all jeering at the mainstream
:22:48. > :23:00.politicians, projected up on the big screen. These people have come to
:23:01. > :23:05.see one person and one person alone. Marianne Le Pen, she's young, she
:23:06. > :23:09.looks good on television, she is on the verge of becoming a superstar of
:23:10. > :23:13.the far right. The speeches about French pride and identity, there is
:23:14. > :23:17.no skinheads in the audience, but virtually no non-white faces,
:23:18. > :23:23.either. She says, we know what we are, and we know what we are not. We
:23:24. > :23:28.are not an Islamic nation. She spoke of the terrible lessons of Paris,
:23:29. > :24:14.November 13. Afterwards, I asked her what she thought the lesson was.
:24:15. > :24:20.Opinion polls suggest the Front Nationale's popularity has increased
:24:21. > :24:24.by between 4% and 7% nationally since the Paris attacks. Here in the
:24:25. > :24:28.south, the party is attracting middle class, middle income voters,
:24:29. > :24:32.success in these regional elections could be a prelude to a strong
:24:33. > :24:37.challenge for the presidency, in 2017.
:24:38. > :24:44.Marseilles is home to an estimated quarter of a million Muslims, many
:24:45. > :24:49.complain of systematic discrimination, jobs, housing and
:24:50. > :24:52.more. For years, the community has been lobbying the Council for
:24:53. > :24:57.permission to build an official grand Mosque, they have been
:24:58. > :24:59.allocated this site, at an abandoned slaughterhouse in the rundown
:25:00. > :25:03.northern outskirts of the city. -- Marseille. Construction has been
:25:04. > :25:40.repeatedly blocked by the Front Nationale.
:25:41. > :25:47.Abdul acknowledges that his community has a problem with
:25:48. > :25:53.radicalisation, but here in Marseille, it feels like the twin
:25:54. > :25:58.pressures of the attacks in Paris and the rise of the Front Nationale
:25:59. > :26:02.is pulling the city apart, one elderly resident came up to speak to
:26:03. > :26:05.me unbidden, he said, there is fear now, we are afraid to go to their
:26:06. > :26:17.neighbourhoods, they are afraid to go to ours. He defined them as, "
:26:18. > :26:31.the French", and us as, " the Muslims".
:26:32. > :26:39.STUDIO: With a risk taker like Kasper Holten at its helm,
:26:40. > :26:42.London's Royal Opera House has been shaking things up a little,
:26:43. > :26:45.recent offering Morgen Und Abend, a world premiere by the Austrian
:26:46. > :26:48.With minimal staging and a large amount of German,
:26:49. > :26:51.it will test even the most enthusiastic of opera lovers.
:26:52. > :26:53.It will receive its broadcast premiere tomorrow evening at 6.30pm
:26:54. > :26:57.Newsnight was given exclusive access to the rehearsal process.
:26:58. > :27:07.Covent Garden's history is full of marvellous, risky, new operas, it is
:27:08. > :27:12.lifeblood to any new opera house to commission new work. Whenever we do
:27:13. > :27:17.a new work, there is a risk. We are bringing a composer to a wider
:27:18. > :27:22.audience who may not be well-known, asking him to take a chance on
:27:23. > :27:26.someone we think has something important to say. But it is a bigger
:27:27. > :27:32.risk not to take risks. -- asking that audience to take a chance.
:27:33. > :27:36.Morgen und Abend is existential to its core, on an almost empty stage,
:27:37. > :27:43.we find Johannes, a fisherman at the moment of his death, it is not yet
:27:44. > :27:46.realise what has happened. Having done Anna Nicole, having done a big
:27:47. > :27:52.success with that, you could say that you need to commission the
:27:53. > :27:58.exact opposite, an opera about a Norwegian fishermen, getting born
:27:59. > :28:03.and dying, that is about that! The Norwegian author is the most
:28:04. > :28:07.performed living dramatist in Europe, but he has never gone down
:28:08. > :28:12.particularly well in the UK, described by one critic as Beckett
:28:13. > :28:17.without the laughs. It is about old love, not young love, and profoundly
:28:18. > :28:26.touching. The love scenes between Johannes and his dead wife.
:28:27. > :28:34.It is not minimalistic, minimalism, in my opinion, that means a
:28:35. > :28:39.reduction of emotion. This is a music which is very romantic. Very
:28:40. > :28:45.emotional. These emotions are grey and white. The music speaks
:28:46. > :28:48.profoundly to me, it takes me to places within myself where I have
:28:49. > :29:03.not been before. For this opera, he has abandoned his
:29:04. > :29:11.habitual music language, instead, at the start, he has replaced the
:29:12. > :29:16.singing voice with the spoken voice. In an opera house, the most
:29:17. > :29:27.fantastic instrument is the human voice! I cannot say I agree, of
:29:28. > :29:33.course I agree, but how the tone is, that, we know, is the most important
:29:34. > :29:37.thing. Because then you speak properly, from wherever you like,
:29:38. > :29:42.your soul. -- whatever you like. Casting an acclaimed actor known to
:29:43. > :29:46.British audiences for roles in things like James Bond, out of
:29:47. > :29:55.Africa and may help Mephisto to Amelia late Mac -- ameliorates the
:29:56. > :29:59.risk. The greatest living composer in Austria, the greatest living
:30:00. > :30:13.actor in Austria, that is the match, he is a most extraordinary animal
:30:14. > :30:16.actor. If the energy is right it does not matter if somebody is
:30:17. > :30:19.singing, talking, I answer can do any thing, even to a bird (!)
:30:20. > :30:29.LAUGHTER It does not matter. Of course I had
:30:30. > :30:35.him in mind, I'm sure, if you would give him a telephone book and ask
:30:36. > :30:40.him to recite it, he would be able to make it interesting, strong,
:30:41. > :30:44.intense... ! We should not do new opera because it is important, we
:30:45. > :30:51.should do it because it is amazing. What will British audiences make of
:30:52. > :30:53.Morgen und Abend, is British taste too different, or will it find
:30:54. > :31:01.success as the operatic equivalent of Nordic noir? Conservative British
:31:02. > :31:05.audiences do not like change, it really depends upon which kind of
:31:06. > :31:08.audience comes to see it! I think this is a piece of its ordinary
:31:09. > :31:16.genius which will hit powerfully in the gut everybody who sees it.
:31:17. > :31:20.which this week is presented by the robot-obsessed singer Ana Matronic.
:31:21. > :31:24.We hear a lot about how robots might affect the future of our economy,
:31:25. > :31:29.but they are already making a big impact on art and culture.
:31:30. > :31:32.I'm Ana Matronic, lead singer of the Scissors Sisters,