Past Production Reviews
5In the case of Jo Davies’ production for Welsh National Opera, it is not overstating to say, top of the league.
Indeed, Lizzi Gee’s movement direction is superb. The children’s rough-and-tumble antics; the dream sequence, in which the children really do ‘take flight’ into fantasy; the delicate dancing of the en pointe duplicates of the dazzling Dew Fairy (He Wu), with their ‘milk-bottles’ of dew droplets; the reawakening of the lost children and the final chorus in celebration of this miracle: all are brilliantly conceived and executed. And, the choreography provides the production with a judicious moment of tongue-in-cheek kitsch. Reunited with his toy aeroplane by the sympathetic Sandman (Gillian Keith), the sleeping Hansel’s imagination powers a ‘lift-off’ to paradise. A bleached-blond flight crew arrive, smiles beaming and uniforms spic-and-span, and semaphore their pre-flight briefing before the excited children soar into the air on the surging wave of Humperdinck’s score, to be greeted by their parents bearing the balloons that will float them to wonderland. It’s terrifically well done.
Rachel Kelly and Susanna sang the roles of Hansel and Gretel in fine style, acting the childish roles with mischievous enthusiasm, but the real comic star of the piece was Alasdair Elliott as the witch, appearing first in a dress and luxurious blonde wig, but later revealing himself as a bald male, which I suppose makes him a warlock rather than a witch.
Benjamin Britten’s 1958 account of the flood described in Genesis draws on the mediaeval mystery plays, in which obedience is a key theme. While other human beings are busy being wicked, Noah is obedient to God’s command and starts building the ship without troubling the Lord with those ‘what’s an ark, what’s a cubit’ questions. Lindsay Turner’s production for this collaboration between the English National Opera and the Theatre Royal Stratford East casts Suzanne Bertish as God, a speaking role in which she is excellent. The comic turn comes from the disobedience of Mrs Noah, who’s having none of it and refuses to embark even when the rain starts.
Noah had all kinds of trouble with the ark. What about the beavers, who wanted to gnaw at the wood? The cats, who wanted to gnaw at the mice? Then there was the nervous moose requesting a swimming aid, the hyperventilating zebra, the tortoise who nearly missed the boat ... OK, so none of this is specified in the libretto of Britten’s Noye’s Fludde, but they are all nice touches in Lyndsey Turner’s production, which marks English National Opera’s first collaboration with the Theatre Royal Stratford East.
