REVIEW of Martin Kušej's IDOMENEO ★★★ Shark without enough bite

Sophie Bevan (Ilia) and Matthew Polenzani (Idomeneo) 
By Mary Grace Nguyen 

Mozart’s earlier opera Idomeneo first performed in 1781, 5 years prior to Le Nozze de Figaro, is regarded as one of his maturer operatic works, which is honey-soaked in mythology, and tales of rulership and fatherhood. Sea monsters, princesses and Greek soldiers permeate the opera’s sublime score; we find similar musical traces in some of his later works including Don Giovanni and Requiem. Unfortunately Austrian director Martin Kušej and his regietheatre (translated as 'director’s theatre' in German) production with Annette Murschetz’s minimalistic, rotating stage - set in no particular time or space - let the show down through its sheer lack of imagination and inability to inspire the audience.

Yet Kušej would argue that despite being lumped with the regietheatre crowd, he works collaboratively with production teams and doesn’t understand what regietheatre means, anyway.

For a start there's no hint of a divine creature in this production, but that of a man. Kusej says, “... I don’t believe in gods. Religion, ideology — it’s all a fake.” So, we set off with a re-written story. Consider that the original is based on King Idomeneo’s vow to the god Neptune who must sacrifice the life of the first human he sets his eyes on to survive a sea storm; luckily he lives but, shamefully, his son Idamante is the victim. For Kušej's production religion is ditched for realpolitik and Idomeneo rationalises the killing of his son for the sake of his throne.

Father and son: Polenzani & Franco Fagioli (Idamante)

The semi-love triangle remains intact nonetheless, which shakes up these political tension between Idamante and Ilia, daughter of Idomeneo’s enemy. Elettra, the adamant Princess of Argos and Greek ally to the King, wants to rule Greece with Idamante as her betrothed husband, which adds more juice to the dramatic piece, and some hearty arias.

These slight amendments by Kušej foreshadow many of the arbitrary and abstract concepts thrown onto the stage: red flags to symbolise rebellion; children dressed in white vests and shorts to represent a prosperous future; heaps of bloodied clothes to depict the number of war dead; and a giant shark (as oppose to a mythic sea monster) to signify a made-up sacrilegious cult. This somewhat modern and minimalistic take of the opera, with large rooms sliding through with things you wouldn't expect, is quite artsy.  In some scenes of act I and act II they were set amongst rain, which was audibly enhanced simultaneously by the ROH's orchestra and brilliant conducting of Marc Minkowski. 

Yet these gestures were often enigmatic and ambiguous. The audience were left trying to fill in the gaps as oppose to figuring out what the so-called regietheatre director Kušej was trying to say about the opera. It seemed that the cold moving stage didn’t move me nor engage my interest as much as I would have liked particularly for a score brimming with warmth and affection. 

Austrian director Martin Kušej

The French conductor Minkowski and the Royal Opera House orchestra were on top form splendidly enchanting the audience with Mozart’s spellbinding work. American Tenor Matthew Polenzani acted as a Tony Soprano version of Idomeneo; yet his dewy voice painted another story about the love for his son and his position as a feeling King that was vocally distant from a tyrant. Sophie Bevan sang expressively and beautifully as the moral captive presented in a white sexy Athenian dress. Malin Byström needed a bit of warming up before easing into her role however. ‘Tutte nel cor vi sento furie del cupo averno’ was promising enough, but her diction wasn’t always clear. She perfectly clashed with Bevan’s physical image dressed in a navy tight-fitted business suit with red killer heels to match.

Also making their debuts to Covent Garden, amongst Minkowski and Kušej, were Argentinian counter-tenor Franco Fagioli as Idamante and French tenor Stanislas de Barbeyrac as Arbac. Kušej decided against a mezzo-soprano for Fagioli; a voice I haven’t heard of before, which also took some time to get used to but soon realised was rather fruity and unique once acquainted with. He was wobbly when he first entered the stage, yet this was redeemed as he continued to remain consistent and impassioned throughout. Barbeyrac  didn’t make a large impression on me, but I can imagine his singing becoming perfect as the production goes on. Full praise goes to all of the chorus singers for working hard on the stage being pulled and tugged by gangsters that were plucked out of a Matrix film or rock band like Kiss, minus the wild make up.

When asked by Neil Fisher whether he was worried about how he would be received by London audiences, Kušej said: “I don’t care. You can’t imagine what I’ve already survived” Kušej has been booed at and ridiculed for his extreme productions, which he regrettably also had to face this evening: the opening night. A particular choice by the Royal Opera House was to implement a long ballet sequence at the end with no singing or words, which was ghastly to watch but lovely to listen to. Just before this took place, these words were projected on the curtain: ‘the souls of the people are cold. Rigid...’ and I couldn't help but think that there were a few frozen members of the audience in the amphitheatre. That’s for sure. 

The production is showing until 24th November. Please click here for more information.

I purchased my own ticket for this viewing.

References: 

Radical opera director Martin Kusej: Abu Ghraib, Mozart and me by Neil Fisher 

Matthew Polenzani, the Royal Opera's Idomeneo by Mark Valencia

#Rohidomeneo The auditorium booed the director...( can you blame them?) Thank God for ROH orchestra & #Minkowski pic.twitter.com/KLc6kT9QXX
— Mary Grace Nguyen (@MaryGNguyen) November 3, 2014

#ROHidomeneo Triumph to #Polenzani #Fagioli #Bevan #Bystrom #DeBarbeyrac #chorus BUT #Kusej #Murschetz We need a word pic.twitter.com/IbViCmZ82D
— Mary Grace Nguyen (@MaryGNguyen) November 3, 2014

Penny Wilcock's The Pearl Fishers at the ENO: Brilliant and seductive music in an Moonlit Aquarium ***

Georges Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers was not a success when it first premiered at the Théâtre Lyrique in 1863. Until now it hasn't received the same astounding reputation as his later and most popular opera, ‘Carmen.’ Penny Woolcock’s current production at the ENO appears to have many ambitious stage ideas as presented by David Bird: floating silk satin sheets, cleverly coordinated actors diving into a bubbly abyss with Jen Schriever’s ocean coloured video projections yet, some of the most basic rules for aweing an audience were somehow misplaced.

The musical grandiose of the melodic and romantic opera, The Peal Fishers is unmistakably one of the most sublime of its kind, not only because it was originally written in the language of love – French – but due to the sweet yearning from the famous duet between baritone and tenor in "Au fond du temple saint." 

The libretto is set in the exotic land of Ceylon, modern day Sri Lanka, where two pearl fishers and fellow comrades Zurga (George von Berger) and Nadir (John Tessier) honour their friendship by making a pact to stay loyal, however this is tested by the unattainable Goddess Laïla (Sophie Bevan) who the people depend on to calm the seas and protect them from thunderous storms. 

The twist in this romantic tale however is through Nadir and Laïla’s clandestine relationship, which once found out, are condemned to death by the insanely jealous Zurga. By Act 3, Woolcuck’s production gets evil; von Berger portrays an ill-tempered and violent Zurga in an unforgiving and vulgarly mannered shantytown.

Bevan, as the heroine, manages to remind us of the romantic proponent Bizet was through the soft lullaby aria, “Me voila seule” and boasts her ability to prolong high notes, more times than not. 

Tessier and von Berger give their best performance of the duet, and even if it wasn’t vocally consistence throughout, there were moments of heartfelt poignancy that assured an audience that their money was well spent. 

Tessier serenade voice was clear yet, unfortunately for von Berger, his voice was only redeemable towards Act 3 as it was drowned out by Jean-Luc Tingaud’s direction of a fiery orchestra.

As mentioned, Bizet’s musical score is first class and, one may argue, the only success of the opera which makes it harder to address any potential flaws with the orchestra but Tingaud goes full steam at the finale of Act 2 were the secret lovers are discovered. 

All singers and chorus sang hard and loud with their arms raised to the sky, which was maximised by the roaring of an oncoming storm, the triumphant beats of drums and bold brass instruments.

However, why were the cast static? Why did the appear gormless?  When it came to scene changes, a silent audience was left with rotating digital footage of water, which may be unkind to anyone prone to seasickness. For as long as four minutes, the waiting was worsened by the awkward sounds of backstage; the banging and thumping of props and muffled conversations between what sounded like beer bellied construction workers. 

Even the woody set design of the shantytown was creaky which overshadowed the harmony and tranquillity of Bizet’s songs. There are some notable details such as the moonlit aquarium scenery, which added to the soothing ambiance yet, brilliant and seductive music aside, there were almost too many concerns regarding the stage itself.

The Pearl Fishers shows at the ENO until the 5th July