| A Delight |
At Opra Cymru |
| Opra Cymru - Cyfrinach Y Brenin , Great Hall, Aberystwyth Arts Centre , September 22, 2022 |
"Violet" from Music Theatre Wales, below 14th September, was a critical hit and a high-point of Cardiff performance so far in 2022. Opra Cymru's new commission from composer Mared Emlyn is its complement, if not its polar opposite. It is certainly indicator of an opera ecology of rich variety. It is also, to be there, a delight. "Cyfrinach Y Brenin" flies for a reason; the company has gone back to its roots. The principles that made its "Macbeth" a gust of fresh air in the presentation of opera in Wales are repeated here. The last tour before the pandemic in 2019 took Opra Cymru in a new direction. The ensemble was expanded and the production put on a big stage. The result was less movement and, for all the musical qualities, a lessening of performance verve. So all change in 2022 and a change to the good. The setting is the floor of the Great Hall. Proximity is everything. The five musicians enter: Mary Hofman violin, Daire Roberts viola, Nicki Pearce cello, Lleucu Parri flute, Fiona Bassett horn. The music is tangibly immediate and so too are the singers. At one point, towards the close, Rhys Meilyr's barber awaits an entry seated on a step between two audience members. When he rises to sing he is a matter of inches of distance from his listeners. With the audience on three sides this is opera as immediate and direct as it can be. Under Patrick Young's direction the space is used to its maximum for movement and animated performance. Erin Gwyn Rossington sweeps on in brilliant whites as a doctor full of confidence. Beca Davies' cook wields her chopping knife with a ferocious energy. Daw Steffan is the king, in a rich satiny kingly costume, who has to carry his secret mournfully. Elen Lloyd Roberts, in full fool regalia to the coned hat, is the jester who loses her taste for jest. Stephen Sondheim is a long way from Mared Emlyn but his guiding principles can be seen in this production. Content dictates form. Less really is more. Hannah Carey is a designer to surprise. She has made an oblong of wood that is a couple of metres in height. Possessed of an acrobatic versatility it opens as a dining table and becomes variously a barber's mirror, a kitchen work surface and a throne. A array of reeds makes it a royal bed. The reeds themselves unfurl to form a fence. There is a visual pleasure to be had in this unfolding ingenuity. The course of the action is constructed around solos, duets and trios until the surprising conclusion, which was adored by the young in the audience. The closing scene brings all five voices together in an affecting paean to the balm and joy that music gives. Every performance is its own event. Early on in the action the King extracts a long dangly thing from his soup dish. The audience likes it a lot. "Beth yw e?" asks the voice of a four-year old. Some among the audience are very young. "Bogey- eergh" comes the answer of another. This does not happen in Covent Garden or the WMC but it is engagement. Opra Cymu is a tight organisation in its Blaenau Ffestiniog home. The company for this production is completed by musical director Iwan Teifion Davies, technical manager Bridget Wallbank and stage manager Beatrice Wallbank. A host of partners are credited in support of the production and tour. They include Engie, Noson Allan, Santander, Castell Howell, the Leche Trust, Ty Cerdd, Gwynedd Council, the Colwinston Trust and Afanti. After Llanegryn, Criccieth, Porthaethwy, Bala, Rhuthun, Llanrwst, Caernarfon and Mold "Cyfrinach y Brenin" continues to Carmarthen, Merthyr, Llanfair Caereinion and Blaenau Ffestiniog. A guide to the previous productions of Opra Cymru can be seen below 16th September 2021. |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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