Conor Mitchell - Abomination, A DUP Opera
The Belfast Ensemble, 2019
Tom Brady, Conor Mitchell, Rebecca Caine, Tony Flynn, Dawn Burns, Matthew Cavan, Christopher Cull, John Porter, Richard Chappell, James Cooper, Tara Greene, Caolan Keaveney, Helenna Howie
The Lyric Theatre - 7th November 2019
Abomination, A DUP Opera couldn't come at a more opportune moment, although to be fair NI politics present so many that practically any moment would be opportune. As far as this opera is concerned, it comes a month after equal marriage legislation and abortion rights had to be imposed on the province in order to bring it up to the same status as the rest of the UK. The law was passed despite an impotent show of bigoted opposition from the DUP, the largest party in Northern Ireland among whom some members - as the opera notes - regard homosexuality as "an abomination".
Coming just a month before a general election moreover, it's a timely reminder of the party's stance, one that - along with their association with the Tory party and support of Brexit against the will of the majority of voters in Northern Ireland - will hopefully cost them dearly at the ballot box. Ah, if only socially engaged opera and the arts really could change the world! Even if Abomination, A DUP Opera plays out to a mostly sympathetic and progressive audience at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast for the Outburst Queer Arts Festival, Conor Mitchell and the Belfast Ensemble's opera makes enough of an impact that I think it's bound to create ripples outside.
Even from its title and poster image, the opera makes no bones about its subject or target, and that is the former DUP party MP Iris Robinson, the wife of the then NI Assembly First Minister Peter Robinson, in relation to comments she made in public interviews in June 2008 about homosexuality being "an abomination". The day after her comments were made, a young gay man was almost beaten to death on the streets of North Belfast, but rather than row back or tone down her comments, Robinson went further in interviews and on a live phone-in BBC Radio programme hosted by Stephen Nolan, comparing homosexuality to bestiality and describing the AIDS epidemic in Africa as being a curse from God for sodomy.
Her views were shared by other DUP politicians and Abomination makes sure that the voices and ignorant views of repugnance towards homosexuality expressed by Willie McCrea, Jim Wells, Jeffrey Donaldson, Ian Paisley, Ian Paisley Jr, Sammy Wilson and current leader Arlene Foster are all aired in the opera. Rather than invent a scenario around this, composer and director Mitchell uses the politicians' own words for the libretto; the music and lyricism of singing these words aloud and in chorus to an audience them only serving to highlight the absurdity of their homophobic pronouncements being directed and expressed unashamedly in such a way to the general public.
Of course the DUP were only expressing what many of their followers believe, but what is staggering is the arrogance of the DUP politicians believing that the Bible and firmly held Christian beliefs give them the right, the justification and the impunity to share these hateful views in public, Robinson even going as far as to declare that it's the duty of government to uphold God's laws. The tragedy of this position - if you want to see it as a tragedy - is that public opinion progresses faster than the DUP's regressive attitudes, showing them up not only for their bigoted views, but also the hypocrisy of their so-called Christian morals when involved in political scandals, expenses fraud, heating fuel corruption and - in the case of Iris Robinson - the revelation of a favours granted towards a young businessman she was secretly involved with in an affair.
As part of The Belfast Ensemble, a company that is very much concerned with opera, theatre and musicals being relevant to the times and the place we live in, Conor Mitchell then is not wrong in finding this a fascinating subject for an opera. Still, it's unquestionably a challenge to find a way of setting it to music and drama and present it to the public in a way that perhaps serves as some kind of social commentary, but it has to be said that the results are magnificent, and Abomination: A DUP Opera is far and away the biggest and most accomplished piece of work from The Belfast Ensemble to date, genuinely engaging with local matters and social issues with great musical and lyrical finesse.
Since it was indicated beforehand that the opera was using the actual words of Iris Robinson herself for the libretto, I suspected that the Abomination might follow the Ensemble's most recent piece, Lunaria, using actors reading rapid-fire news reports over recent political developments in Northern Ireland, with Mitchell's insistent rhythms matching the flow of projections of newsreel footage. In reality, Mitchell displays a full range of musical pieces in a variety of styles, moods and tempi. Abomination is an opera in the truest sense, with individual singing, some operatic in nature - Rebecca Caine as Iris and Dawn Burns are outstanding - others semi-spoken, with choruses and even a musical dance sequence presenting Iris's illicit affair with an 'angel' lover.
The narrative thread of the work is centred on and continually returns to Robinson's infamous talkshow interview with Stephen Nolan; Nolan here not a singing role but played by an actor, Tony Flynn. Nolan's position is firm on holding Robinson to account for what she says, being careful not to accuse her of being responsible for the beating up of a young gay man, but implicated through words that might have incited or at least given licence to others to similarly express their views. In-between almost anything goes as far as musical arrangements and dramatic enactments are concerned, Mitchell's direction putting the position of the DUP voices in an almost fantastical setting - detached from reality certainly - using projections showing the person in question, with newspaper articles reporting quotes of what they said, while they are sung almost rapturously.
Although it's hugely entertaining there is a serious side to the work and it may lead to accusations of Abomination being nothing more than a DUP bashing, or worse, an invective more directly aimed at Iris Robinson. Mitchell is careful however that there is nothing in the opera that is not actual direct quotes from the people concerned, so he cannot be accused of misrepresentation. Letting the protagonists speak in their own words and make a laughing stock of themselves, and giving them voice in operatic declamation only highlights the absurdity, ignorance and arrogance of their position on matters of homosexuality and gay rights (a mindset that persists within the DUP).
Whether it's fair to treat Iris Robinson as the focal point of the opera or not, she at least is the person who brought these attitudes out into the open with her designation of homosexuality as "an abomination", and she epitomises this sense of belief that their religion gives them divine endorsement or some kind of god-given superiority over others. By the end of the opera however, Abomination, A DUP Opera seems to come around to apply one of the Christian sentiments that appear to be lacking in Robinson's own words and actions, to love the sinner and hate the sin, her own downfall from public office leaving a somewhat tragic figure alone on the stage with a phone and no-one to listen to her any more.
Links: The Belfast Ensemble
Johann Strauss - Die Fledermaus
Northern Ireland Opera, 2019
Walter Sutcliffe, Gareth Hancock, Stephan Loges, Ben McAteer, Maria McGrann, May McFettridge, Denis Lakey, John Porter, Alexandra Lubchansky, Dawn Burns, Conor Breen, Mark Pancek,
Grand Opera House, Belfast - 17th September 2019
It was a bit concerning for any opera fan that the last Northern Ireland Opera production was a Stephen Sondheim musical, Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and with advance notice that Belfast's local pantomime dame May McFettridge has been signed up for a role in the Johann Strauss operetta Die Fledermaus, it looked like we'd skipped the opera season and Christmas had come early to the Belfast Grand Opera House this year. Still, the best way to take this this is perhaps not to look at this from a serious operatic viewpoint or as a pantomime either but just as an enjoyable piece of light entertainment, and Walter Sutcliffe's production managed to achieve that. Eventually.
It's easy to be dismissive of musicals and light operetta, but such works bring their own challenges in finding a successful blend of acting and singing, in establishing a comic situation and getting the timing and delivery right. In the hands of specialised practitioners of the opéra-comique, comedy and farce can be hugely entertaining when it is done right on the opera stage. In terms of visual presentation, NI Opera's Die Fledermaus looked the part with Andrea Kaempf's spectacular set designs and superb colourful costumes, but there was a bit of a disconnect between the visuals and the performances that - in the first half at least - failed to engage the audience.
Surprisingly even Strauss's famous overture - jam-packed with the composer's brilliant waltz melodies - failed to raise any applause from the audience, as they looked on baffled wondering what a man in a Batman suit was doing running through a kaleidoscopic visual of art deco city skyscrapers. The man is of course Falke, who has been made the butt of a practical joke, left wandering through the city in a fancy-dress costume, something he isn't ever going to live down until he gets revenge on his friend Eisenstein, but unless you had a programme to read the synopsis, the visuals alone weren't sufficient to let you know the backstory.
The use of a 60s era Adam West Batman costume was a good updating of the Bat costume that gives the opera its title, but it still the overture didn't have the necessary 'Ka-pow!' factor. The English translation maybe could have been looser and wittier, the delivery could have been sharper and it could have had more of a local connection. One reference to the maid Adele's aunt, supposedly at death's door, being seen cycling up the Cave Hill fell a little flat, as it seemed entirely at odds with the high society life of the Eisensteins with their servants and their lavish art deco mansion. I mean, I know the Antrim Road is posh but it's not exactly 19th century Viennese high society.
You can get away with a lot however if you play the comedy to the hilt, particularly when you've got Johann Strauss's melodies behind you and musically Die Fledermaus is a feast that was at least relished by the Ulster Orchestra conducted by Gareth Hancock in the pit. Unfortunately, the Belfast production seemed to lack the confidence and edge to push the boat out and really let it swing, some of the voices weren't always strong enough or had too strong an accent to lift it over the orchestra, and Act I's intermission came around quickly with an indifferent smattering of applause. Still, if we wanted to see things liven up a little more, there was always the promise of May McFettridge in the second half.
As it turned out, May McFettridge's role as the jailer Frosch wasn't really exploited either, but Walter Sutcliffe had a few other surprises that enlivened the second half considerably. We got a drag-queen Prince and his very gender-fluid entourage and servants, the racy exploits of Eisenstein trying to seduce the Hungarian Countess who was actually his wife Rosalinde carried over well, but essentially it was the party scenes - the colour, the costumes, the lighting and the choreography - that established a more unified connection with Strauss's music and its sensibility. It was suddenly much more fun.
And if an entertaining evening was all you were expecting from Die Fledermaus, NI Opera got there in the end. I heard many comments of approval from the audience as I left the theatre, so along with their music-theatre productions at the Lyric, the company are reaching an audience. The failure to produce a single genuine opera this year however is more of a concern for opera goers, and NI Opera could lose out big time to Opera Ireland's much more ambitious progamme south of the border and to the Wexford Festival Opera. Unfortunately, the temporary closure of the Grand Opera House for refurbishment doesn't bode well for next year's programme, but I'm still hoping they might surprise us yet.*
* (Edit: No, looks like I was wrong about that - Kiss Me Kate)
Links: Northern Ireland Opera
Stephen Sondheim - Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Northern Ireland Opera & Lyric Theatre, 2019
Walter
Sutcliffe, Sinead Hayes, Steven Page, Julie Mullins, John Porter,
Anthony Hope, Jessica Hackett, Jack Wolfe, Mark O'Regan, Richard
Croxford, Elaine Hearty, Matthew Cavan, Dawn Burns, Christopher Cull,
Enda Kilroy, Jolene O'Hara, Tommy Wallace
The Lyric Theatre, Belfast - 3rd February 2019
I'm
facing a bit of a dilemma here, since Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd
doesn't really belong in an opera blog, or at least not in my personal
definition of an opera blog (which is a blogger's prerogative of course),
but this is a co-production of Northern Ireland Opera with the Lyric
Theatre in Belfast and I've been closely following pretty much every NI Opera production since its inauguration in 2011. Which makes the
dilemma two-fold; it's not just a question of what should be covered in
this blog, but also how to give credit where credit is due. If I were
to review this for another outlet this would undoubtedly be a more
positive review of a very competent, well-performed and
entertaining music theatre production. As an NI Opera production however, this is fairly vapid material that falls far below what we have come to expect.
I've no doubt that there
are practical and financial considerations that have to be taken into
account, and I'm sure I couldn't underestimate to the kind of
compromises have to be made and the practical decisions that have to be
faced by any arts funded company. I can imagine however that serious
consideration needs to be made between the viability of putting on what
might appear to be an elitist obscure opera for a couple of nights to a
half-filled Grand Opera House and running a three-week sold out popular
show at the Lyric Theatre that will reach out to a younger if not
necessarily any more socially diverse audience. I realise that these
decisions have to be made, but it doesn't mean I have to like them.
Compromises
have to be made in Belfast as much as with the English National Opera
at the Coliseum in London; that's the economic reality in a time of
reduced funding for the arts. Walter Sutcliffe's first season as
director of NI Opera balanced that well however with a reduced season of
works that can have popular appeal to bring in new audiences but still
have artistic merit. On the one hand we had a fine production of Così Fan Tutte (not seen as often in Belfast as other Mozart operas) and a
Rigoletto of impressive singing, but also a successful co-production
between NI Opera and the Lyric Theatre of Brecht and Weill's The Threepenny Opera. It's rather dispiriting however this has been
downgraded this year to a line-up that consists only of a popular Sondheim musical, three performances with high ticket prices for an operetta (Die Fledermaus) and a formal dress gala concert for local big-wigs. Shockingly, Northern
Ireland Opera are not producing a single opera this year.
Perhaps
there are additional financial and boardroom pressures on Northern
Ireland Opera, but it's a bit of a come-down from Oliver Mears' more
open, diverse and adventurous tenure where we had the first ever fully staged Wagner in Belfast
(The Flying Dutchman), where Richard Strauss (Salome) was programmed
rather than Johann Strauss, where there were newly commissioned work
from local composers (NI Opera Shorts), where you could see a work as
boldly innovative and uproariously entertaining as Gerald Barry's The Importance of Being Earnest and where the cross-over works with local
theatre were by Benjamin Britten (The Turn of the Screw) and Thomas Adès
(Powder her Face). Bolder choices are also being made south of the
border by the newly formed Irish National Opera, most recently with Duke Bluebeard's Castle and an ambitious Aida. Thank heavens too for
Opera North's visits to Belfast.
A review of Sweeney Todd
therefore has no meaningful place here; the work itself has little
of substance or subtext, certainly not in the context of the above.
Full credit however to the team for making an effort to sell this as
something more interesting that it really is in the theatre programme.
In the programme a Queen's University lecturer considers the rights and
wrongs of a fictional character who takes revenge on society by
homicidal barbering and cannibalistic culinary, while an interview with
conductor Sinead Hayes points to certain operatic qualities,
complexities of leitmotif and dissonance in the musical composition.
The musical performance was certainly of the usual high standard from
the assembled musicians, and it was superbly paced and conducted
to bring all the colour and vigour out of the songs with wonderful
clarity and precision.
As a theatrical performance it also more than delivered. Regardless of musical tastes and definitions of what constitutes 'quality' or 'worthy' music, Sondheim comes alive
on the stage in live performance and it can even have a bit of an edge
(as with the recent Assassins at the Gate Theatre in Dublin - again,
more adventurous programming than Sweeney Todd). The combination of
music, lighting, colour, costume and (amplified) voices creates its own
magic just as effectively as any live opera production, and even at this
early preview stage in the run, the production was clearly
well-rehearsed and ran relatively smoothly, even with all the little
compartments and doors to be managed. Particular credit should be given
to Dorota Karolczak of the make-up and costume department for making
this look absolutely terrific.
The singing was of the
highest quality; Steven Page as Sweeney Todd, Julie Mullins as Mrs Lovett
and John Porter as Anthony Hope all superb singers who are equally as
good at characterisation. They were well-balanced alongside Jack Wolfe and
Jessica Hackett who give the kind of fresh-voiced delivery you want
from Tobias Ragg and Joanna, but there was little that about the
direction to bring anything original or exciting to give this a bit more
of an edge. Ultimately Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
remains a Victorian Penny Dreadful horror tale that has nothing
realistic or relevant to say about life, justice or morality; it's just a
colourful treatment of a bland entertainment.
Only
Matthew Cavan managed to really bring some spirited individuality and
unpredictability to the production (as he did also in The Threepenny Opera) as the outrageous Signor Pirelli. If Belfast's great pantomime
dame May McFettridge ever calls it a day (heaven forbid!), we have a potential
replacement here. I mean that as the highest compliment to the Belfast
stage, but unfortunately it's not much of a compliment for Northern
Ireland Opera.
Links: Northern Ireland Opera, Lyric Theatre Belfast
