Welsh National Opera |
| Welsh National Opera- Ariadne auf Naxos , New Theatre, Cardiff , September 18, 2004 |
| Love or the absence of love is at the core of a great many works of art across the whole spectrum and of course it drives along many, less aesthetically aiming, and more readily available narratives in film and television. In Ariadne auf Nexos, an almost tongue in cheek opera, touched by the genius of Richard Strauss and his librettist Hugo Von Hofmannsthal we appear to have a bit of both. The serious romantic operatically expressed love story of Ariadne’s abandonment is intended to take up the second part of the evening but as we soon learn in the hilarious prologue, this a luxury we have to forgo as the fireworks must start at nine o’clock. Director Neil Armfield with the aid of Dale Ferguson’s exquisite set design places the first half back stage in a private theatre in the house of the ‘richest man in Vienna’. The opera is to be a ‘diversion’ for his dinner guests but it is not to be the only entertainment that evening. A Commedia dell’Arte troupe will also be performing! From the moment the curtain rises it’s clear we are in for an evening of great fun and joy. George Newton-Fitzgerald’s as Ariadne’s gloriously camp wig-maker sets off the hilarity that is quickly taken up by the disdain expressed by the serious classical artists at having to be on the same bill with these lowly comedians. Janice Watson and Peter Hoare, later to be seen as Ariadne and Bacchus are totally captivating with their ‘buffo’ attitudes. Gerd Grochowski battles excellently for his singers and young composer with Richard Van Allan’s so cool and suave Major-Domo. In this all spoken role Van Alan gives a superbly captivating and excellent acting performance: a quality that is readily taken up by all the members of the company. The final ‘put down’ for the serious musicians comes when they are informed that their opera is to be performed simultaneously with the comedians in order to be ready for the fireworks. The composer is furious and sings of the beauty and strength of music. Zerbinetta, the leader of the comic bunch asks him to tell her the plot of Ariadne in order to see how she can fit her troupe into the opera. As they sing, a note of love quivers between them. The boldness, clarity and beauty of Alice Coote’s singing bring the wonderfully farcical prologue to its close. All the time Carlo Rizzi’s exquisite hold on the music allows it to breathe, to underscore, to sustain, connect and fill the auditorium with its beauty and felicity. Director and designer have, not even in the second part of the opera, allowed us to be totally overwhelmed by the sad beauty of Naxos. The delicacy of the subtly painted island is interrupted by holes in the scenery that the clowns will peek through and the entrance to Ariande’s cave is a somewhat bigger hole. However the poignant loneliness, expressed so touchingly in her opening aria, with the ethereal support of her accompanying nymphs, tenderly sung by Gail Pearson, Aslene Rolph and Elizabeth Donavan, tugs our heartstrings back into the land of romance, but we don’t stay there for long! D’arcy Bleiker’s bravuraly sung Harlequin tries to tell her that there are other things in life to take pleasure in and his comic friends played and sung and danced with cheeky humour by Andrew Mackenzie-Wicks, Tim Mirvin and Wynne Evans also join in the task of cheering her up – all to no avail. Zerbinetta comes in with the tack that there are more fish in the sea. Here Katarzyna Dondalska’s mastery of the art of coloratura is one of the production’s many highlights. The very moving love duet between Peter Hoare, now in great godly flow as Bacchus and Janice Watson’s, happily restored Ariadne, bring us back to the realms of romantic opera as they ascend to the heavens, leaving Zerbinetta sneaking in to have the last word: “When a new God comes along, we’re dumbstruck”! This final season of the Welsh National Opera is completed with Puccini’s Turandot, 20th 24th September and 1st October and Iphigénie En Tauride by Gluck, 30th September and 2 October |
Reviewed by: Michael Kelligan |
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