Benjamin Britten - Owen Wingrave
Royal Northern College of Music, 2025
Rory Macdonald, Benjamin Voce, Orpha Phelan, Alex Riddell, Johannes Gerges, Sam Rose, Kirsty McNaughton, Esther Shea, Hannah Andrusier, Daisy Mitchell, Samuel Horton, Grant Haddow
RMCM Theatre, Manchester - 5th April 2025
The cause of going to war has remained a moral dilemma throughout the ages, and those conscientious objectors and pacifists opposed to it have very much been against the tide of history. Even the most devout Christian leaders seem to be permitted special dispensation to get around the very unambiguous commandment "Thou shall not kill" when it comes to war. Perhaps the real problem that hasn't been addressed is that human nature doesn't seem to have yet found a way to overcome its taste for greed and barbarism. Quite the contrary. To present oneself as a nonconformist to the prevailing order of things as Owen Wingrave does and as Benjamin Britten did in his time, one needs a strong counterargument and Henry James' original story presents the case where it's not enough to just be against something, but rather to take positive steps and stand up for one's beliefs from a position of strength even when they are rejected by everyone else.
That's perhaps getting a little preachy, but it's necessary to emphasise how much the arguments in Owen Wingrave and in Britten's impassioned opera version are just as important now as they were at the end of the 19th century when James read uncomprehendingly of the glorification of Napoleon's campaigns, and during the war years of the 1930s and 40s when Britten took a principled stand as a conscientious objector. It also serves as a reminder that, over a decade on from the composer's anniversary celebrations and now less frequently performed (The Turn of the Screw aside), Britten's music still has a lot to offer and hopefully isn't going out of fashion. Written for musicians and audiences of all ages - Owen Wingrave even originating as a TV opera - makes his work suitable for smaller scale productions, while still having all the impact of a full-scale opera production. That's essentially what we got at with this Owen Wingrave at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.
Having thoroughly considered the reasons for his decision to withdraw from military academy, Owen Wingrave's initial arguments and explanations, his genuine distaste for what it represents come from the heart and get directly to the essence of his dilemma. He is unable to see any case for the glorification of death, violence and the misery that war brings. Wingrave, despite a long proud family tradition (of being killed in battle), refuses to take part in such horror, much to the shock, disbelief and disapproval of his family and friends. He names and shames all the wartime leaders/mass murderers of history and even when challenged on that by his tutor Coyle and fellow student Lechmere to dare level his argument against a great man like Wellington, recalls the Duke's famous quote that "Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won". The counter-argument presented by Coyle and Lechmere is that Wellington still fought his battles and won them.
The sincerity of the sentiment and the intellectual argument are one thing - and would probably not make all that compelling a subject for an opera - but making it feel like a matter of real life and death is another. Although it wasn't his usual genre, The Turn of the Screw notwithstanding (also developed as an opera by Britten of course), Henry James found the ghost story an effective means for tapping into areas of the human psyche as a way of exposing or suggesting unspoken and taboo subjects. Britten also rose to that challenge in the writing of Owen Wingrave, commissioned in 1971 for a TV broadcast, and while the opera does inevitably have its moments of preachiness, it also finds ways musically to persuade and frighten in order to get beneath the skin. The director of this production, Orpha Phelan, also finds ways to make that come alive in mood, content and situation, and so too do the music students at RNCM.
The essential character of making this a pertinent subject today is evidently to make it feel present, not some dusty period drama or ghost story. That is clearly the intention right from the start of this production, using the overture or introduction to show soldiers from a number of historical periods climbing onto the stage, seeking cover and fighting for their lives. These are the Spirits of Paramour, the generations of Wingrave men who have given their lives for their country. These physical figures present a more effective ghostly presence than mere portraits of military ancestry hanging on the ancestral walls of the family estate for glorification. Phelan even provides a little tableau to illustrate the 'glorious' fate of Owen's father that is all the more effective for making it feel real. The talk of honour, sacrifice, duty and glory in war is just a twisting of language, but such devices show how Owen sees through this. His intent is to take back or reclaim the language of honour and decency for those who choose not to kill others or submit to blind obedience.
The military tradition of the Wingrave males present one kind of presence of horror, but there is another ghost story introduced that ties into the family's own mythology, another form of self-aggrandisement that in reality hides an uncomfortable truth. Whether taken literally or not (it's a problematic layer at least that has to be dealt with by a director), the childish dare to stay in a haunted room does contribute to the sense of unease in the breaking of taboos, in how far Owen is willing to go to show the depth and sincerity of his beliefs, and his fate is the price to be paid for it. Phelan again makes good choices in how she presents those elements, not playing up to genre trappings, but showing that there is a dark horrible story here, one of bullying and abuse, one that we may take to apply to the techniques employed on young recruits to become unthinking killers and grist for the mill.
The set and the production design by Madeleine Boyd (who previously worked with Phelan on the Wexford Festival Opera's excellent production of Donizetti's Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali last year, certainly works very much along with the tone of Phelan's direction and contributes considerably to the mood. The choice is not to set it in the present day (where the horror of modern warfare seems even more depersonalised with drones and long-range missiles), but closer to Britten's wartime period. That, the First World War and the Napoleonic era referenced here, would still be the kind of warfare that an audience would be most familiar with as a killing ground. Somehow, even the Paramour setting has a similar feel of something mired in the past, like its hidebound intransigence in regard to the military establishment, a former glory that has not survived the rigours of the passage of time.
For the April 5th performance of Owen Wingrave at the RNCM, Alex Riddell gave a controlled, assured and impassioned performance as Owen, never descending to over earnestness or over-emphasis, but rather delivering with conviction and completely in line with the nature of the character. He is determined and assured, but also regretful of how his commitment to his own beliefs will be taken by his family. Riddell held the attention completely and conveyed the meaning of what is sung through a commanding performance.
Kirsty McNaughton was a striking Miss Wingrave, as was Hannah Andrusier's Mrs Julian. Aside from the title character, few other roles have any sympathetic qualities in this opera, but it's important that the opposition that Owen faces has sufficient expression and voice, and that was abundantly delivered by McNaughton and Andrusier. Serving an equally important role as Owen's fiancée, Daisy Mitchell performance was very much up to the task of the berating and bullying Kate. Mrs Coyle has more of a conflicted position, but was sung well by Esther Shea.
In comparison to the forceful writing of the female roles, the military men come across as rather weak and pathetic, but were characterised and sung well by Johannes Gerges as Coyle and Sam Rose as the young, enthusiastic and approval-seeking Lechmere. Grant Haddow gave a perfect delivery of the ghost story as the ballad singer at the opening of the second act, setting up Samuel Horton to present the formidable Sir Philip Wingrave as the author or instigator of Owen's demise.
Britten's score was presented in a reduced orchestration at this RNCM production, but I have to say that the musical performance never felt like it. Rory Macdonald's musical direction, with the orchestra here playing under assistant conductor Benjamin Voce, had all the necessary mood and impact. And not just the music nor indeed the uniformly fine singing performances, but everything about this production contributed to the mood and direction of the piece and the most effective way of delivering the important message of the opera. Even the offstage chorus sounded perfect as the Spirits of Paramore. This was pretty much an ideal production of Owen Wingrave whichever way you look at it.
External links: Royal Northern College of Music
