Milton Court Theatre
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| Images: David Monteith Hodge Dido (Karima El Demerdasch) |
Dido – Karima El Demerdasch
Aeneas – Joshua Saunders
Belinda – Manon Ogwen Parry
Sorceress – Julia Merino
Attendant, Second Woman – Hannah McKay
Witches – Seohyun Go, Julia Solomon
Spirit – Gabriella Noble
Sailor – Tobias Campos Santiñaque
Designs – Alisa Kalyanova
Movement – Caroline Lofthouse
Lighting – Eli Hunt
Chorus (chorus master: Henry Reavey) and Orchestra of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama James Henshaw (conductor)
This new Guildhall Dido and Aeneas, directed by Oliver Platt and designed by Alisa Kalyanova, was not the Dido of your expectations. I can be reasonably sure of that. Doors opened to reveal a club scene onstage, electronic music of a decidedly non-Stockhausen variety blasting through the small theatre. Dido eventually joined, dancing as if her life depended on it; perhaps, in retrospect, it did. Belinda too (if indeed these were there names). And then, suddenly everything changed. Purcell’s music was to be heard. In an unanticipated Dr Who-like shift – will the Queen of Carthage turn out to be the new Doctor heralded by Billie Piper? – we found ourselves in a very different world indeed. Its denizens took what they wanted from Dido’s handbag, re-clothed her, and left her generally shocked and bemused, apparently having no more idea what was going on than I did.
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| Sailor (Tobias Campos Santiñaque) and Chorus |
We now appeared to be in a rural English community, with straw figures, a maypole, and enforced country dancing, clothes suggestive more of the early twentieth century than Purcell’s time, let alone that of Dido and Aeneas. When Aeneas arrived, seemingly similarly abducted, he had no more idea what was going on. So far as I could discern, neither of them did throughout, brought together by the strange villagers, though again, neither did I. Punk-triffid witches did their thing. Aeneas eventually resolved to stay, Dido by then rejecting him, physically berating him, until he turned on her and seemed on the verge (at least) of sexual assault, until she stabbed him, after which she was led to the Maypole to be hanged. It was quite absorbing in its way and very well blocked and choreographed, but I really could not tell you what it was about or how it cohered. Was that the point? It may have been, given liberties taken – nothing wrong with that – for the missing music, but I suspect I was missing something. Was it perhaps all an unfortunate dream, arising from nightclub hallucination? I fear I shall simply have to admit defeat.
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| Dido and Chorus |
All in the cast, the excellent
chorus included, threw themselves into this oddly compelling vision in wholehearted,
committed fashion. Karima El Demerdasch’s Dido was first-rate, from wild
abandon – difficult to imagine Janet Baker or Jessye Norman in this production –
through fear and unease to final tragedy. Accomplished through the synthesis of
words, music, and gesture that, put crudely, is operatic performance,
this signalled not only great promise but great achievement. I am sure we shall
see and hear more from her. Aeneas is, especially by comparison, a bit of a
thankless role, but Joshua Saunders made a good deal of this bemused
conception. Manon Ogwen Parry’s Belinda and Julia Merino’s Sorceress were both
very well taken, as indeed were the other, smaller roles, Tobias Campos
Santiñaque’s Sailor a winning ‘boozy’ moment in the spotlight. James Henshaw’s conducting
complemented the punk-folk conception of the staging, more City Waites than Les
Arts Florissants, let alone English Chamber Orchestra. It may not be how I hear
it, but it is hardly how I see it either, and performance should always extend
beyond ritual. There was, then, much to enjoy—and to puzzle over.
