By Shirley Apthorp [Financial Times, 8 October 2006]

Marie’s fall from grace has never been more palpable. David Pountney’s new production of Die Soldaten is one vast sensual excess. As the merchant’s daughter slides from flirtation to prostitution, the audience slides with her. Literally. The podium on which the seats are mounted rests on railway tracks that run the length of the cavernous Jahrhunderthalle. The effect is unnervingly dizzying.