Susie Sainsbury Theatre
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| Tarquinius (Oliver Heuzenroeder), Collatinus (Pavel Basov), Junius (Harrison Robb) Images: Craig Fuller |
Director – Paul Carr
Costumes – Michelle Bradbury
Lighting – Jake Wiltshire
Female Chorus – Madeleine Perring
Male Chorus – Yihui Wang
Lucretia – Ella Orehek-Whitford
Tarquinius – Oliver Heuzenroeder
Collatinus – Pavel Basov
Junius – Harrison Robb
Bianca – Viktoria Melkonian
Lucia – Ellie Donald
Royal Academy Sinfonia
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| Male Chorus (Yihui Wang) |
Hot on the heels of HGO’s
Rape of Lucretia has come another excellent young-artist production,
this time from Royal Academy Opera. (English Touring Opera also gave
performances, here in London and elsewhere, in November.) It is for me one of
Britten’s stronger works, the sometimes excessive wordiness of Ronald Duncan’s
libretto notwithstanding; this opportunity to see it again so soon, not so much
to compare as to experience it from another, related standpoint, was readily
taken.
Paul Carr’s production puzzled me at first, probably because I had come with
overly realist expectations to something that unfolded with a more abstract
aesthetic, indeed aestheticism. What seemed to be a punk-meets-S&M look for
the beginning of the first act, soldiers meeting on an edgy, even dangerous
street, turned out not to be a setting as such, but rather a look, contrasted
with a more Roman sense, achieved more through lighting than costumes, for the domestic sphere of Lucretia’s villa. Not that there was
anything much here as a set: this focused on the characters, their deeds, and
their interactions, all viewed through a prism of black, white, and red, a long
red rope both prophetic and eventually summative. In the masculine sphere, Tarquinius
was a ‘panther’ indeed, not only ‘agile’ and ‘virile’ but also in thrall to his
pleasures and desires—and not necessarily restricted to women. Mad, bad, and definitely
dangerous to know, then, in a memorable stage animal portrayal by Oliver
Heuzenroeder.
Lucia (Ellie Donald), Lucretia (Ella Orehek-Coddington), Bianca (Viktoria Melkonian)
Ella Orehek-Whitford’s Lucretia contrasted vividly with his Tarquinius: good, honourable, and with undeniable inner strength, though how could that ever be enough? Her way with words, music, and their combination enabled her fully to inhabit her role. Pavel Basov’s Collatinus was multi-dimensional, to begin with barely distinguishable from the other men, thrust by direst fate into his role as Tarquinius’s antagonist. Harrison Robb’s Junius was, more clearly than usual, the real manipulator, through vocal and stage means alike. (Both characters pointed us to the Roman republican future.) Viktoria Melkonian’s Bianca and Ellie Donald’s Lucia were nicely contrasted in voice, more to the point intelligently sung and acted throughout; likewise Madeleine Perring’s Female Chorus, very much part of the action. For me, though, it was Yihui Wang’s Male Chorus who emerged as first among a team of fine equals, his diction and musical line quite superlative, all a means to a properly ambiguous dramatic end. The production asked much of this cast and received all it asked.
Madeleine Perring (Female Chorus)
The musicians of the Royal Academy Sinfonia proved just as impressive in the
pit, incisively led by Lada Valešová. An ensemble of steel that could melt
before our ears and the morning Roman sun, it drove and structured the action,
ensuring that Britten’s opera for the most part overcame the limitations of its
libretto and even hinting that there might be some post-Bachian truth in that
problematical claim of redemption at the close. For if Duncan’s work has its
problems, it also bears genuine dramatic fruit, especially though not solely in
combination with the score—all the more so in so compelling a performance as
this.
