La Tragédie de Carmen
Another fantastic collaboration between Norwich Theatre and Buxton International Theatre. Thank you to Stephen Crocker, and everyone at Norwich Theatre for managing to pull this one off.
Norwich Theatre
Norwich Theatre's second collaborative co-production with Buxton International Festival is an innovative and refreshing version of George Bizet's gritty and passionate 'Carmen'. More usually performed over four-acts, and running to in excess of three hours when including the interval, the full opera (even though it contains more well-known songs than you can shake a stick at) can prove somewhat daunting to anyone unaccustomed to the classical form. This one-act version, re-imagined by Peter Brook and first performed in 1981, lies much closer to Prosper Mérimée's original novella, condensing the story down to a most manageable 90 minutes, and yet still retaining all of the familiar tunes, and all of the passion, the heartbreak, and the jealousy. In so doing, Brooks managed to make Carmen, already one of the most popular and most performed of operas, even more accessible to both opera virgins and novices, but it remained an intimate production that could still be relished and savoured by the opera purists.
Irish mezzo-soprano Niamh O'Sullivan shines as Carmen, seemingly now taking place in 20th century Spain, and looking more coquettish than 'femme fatale'. In fact, her character's playfulness at times seems almost Bardot-like. Her change of dresses hang from a clothes rail at the side of the stage, rather like something that used to be found outside a Top Shop dressing room. Costume changes are thus cleverly, and discretely, achieved without ever Carmen ever having to leave the stage.
Young Welsh tenor Elgan Llyr Thomas plays the naïve Don José, an off duty soldier who first comes across Carmen in Seville, just as his own girlfriend Micaëla (soprano Erin Gwyn Rossington) is attempting to persuade him to return home to his mother. His dress and style is strikingly contemporary – jeans and leather jacket, adding shades of West Side Story to his character.
And, completing the quartet of singing roles, is another Welshman, baritone Steffan Lloyd Owen, who, as bullfighter Escamillo, gets to sing the stirring, and much-loved, 'Toreador's Song'.
All of this is performed amidst a striking set design by Bettina John, looking rather like a giant three-dimensional Jenga puzzle, but which comes apart, each part rotating, and able to transform into Don José's prison cell, as well as Lillas Pastia's bar. Versatile, and chameleon-like actor Cameron Cook, becomes bar owner Lillas Pastia, as well as Don José's commanding officer Zuniga, and Carmen's husband, Garcia. When not on stage in any of these guises he serves as Narrator, standing and surveying the stage, rather like a re-imagined General Franco.
With a 15 piece orchestra conducted by Iwan Davis, and the French libretto transcribed into English via surtitle screens, this pocket-sized version of Carmen still packs a mighty punch. Full marks to director Katharina Kastening, and to the on-stage cast of five, for delivering such a powerful and passionate version of this much-loved tale.
Yet another fantastic collaboration between Norwich Theatre and Buxton International Theatre, following on from last year's highly acclaimed 'The Land of Might-Have-Been, the original musical show based on the lives and work of Edna Britten and Ivor Novello. It is good to know that, in a time when touring opera companies are struggling to receive the funding that they so desperately need, creative partnerships like this can come up with creative, and highly successful, solutions. Thank you to Stephen Crocker, and everyone at Norwich Theatre for managing to pull this one off.
