Get Out More...............................Opera Review

KING IDOMENEO (Sherborne Building, Ladywood)

14-08-2008

In their first show since being spared by the Arts Council, Birmingham Opera Company pulls off another triumph in the unlikeliest of settings. Paula Elenor revels in their survival.

"It's Opera, Jim. But not as we know it!"

Birmingham taxi drivers must have been a little bemused on Tuesday night to be asked to drop opera buffs at the heart of a semi-used industrial estate in Ladywood.

But no, it was not a mistake, for the Sherborne Building, a cavernous disused rubber factory in Icknield Square, was the venue for the opening night of Mozart’s opera “King Idomeneo” – Birmingham Opera Company’s latest, stunning production.

It is hard to believe that just seven months ago, Artistic Director Graham Vick was fighting a decision to cut the company’s Arts Council funding. If anything justifies the decision to save the company, this show does.

This vigorous, unpredictable and highly imaginative production enhances our appreciation of Mozart’s operatic repertoire as well as fulfilling the company’s aims of maximising community involvement in this art form.

The multitudinous chorus of Brummies (of all ages) did more than provide adequate support for the internationally renowned opera professionals singing the leads: they were an essential and equal part of the whole theatrical experience.

And the biggest star of all? The Sherborne Building itself.

I have to admit to some misgivings as I arrived at the venue. Yes, the rusty, shabby shell of the factory building – now full of creative energy and drive - by the side of the quiet Birmingham canal and the busy rail line somehow epitomised Birmingham’s post- industrial decline and subsequent regeneration. But, was this just a gimmick?

Side-stepping potholes, murky puddles and strange metal obstacles in the yard of the old factory, I thought how could this inconvenient venue bring Mozart and opera closer to a new audience - it’s hardly “accessible” is it?

However, my initial scepticism was soon dissipated.

After, a bit of impatient shuffling in the smelly, outer “foyer”, we were finally admitted to the performance space. Within the bounds of the old shop floor, designer Stuart Nunn has re-created the imaginative world of the opera – mythological Crete.

We enter a world of palaces, beaches, hillsides and sacrificial altars. And we are not passive observers; we are the guests of the characters invited to share their world; the drama of their lives is enacted around us - we share their joys, confusion and miseries.
It was certainly disorienting at first, but we soon become accustomed to the physical, emotional and imaginative world of Idomeneo, Idamante, Ilia and the vengeful Electra.

The plot is simple. The Trojans have lost the 10 year war with Greece and many are now prisoners of war on the island of Crete. The Cretans and his son await the return of their King, Idomeneo (Paul Nilon) from the shores of Troy.

Like Odysseus, he has not been given an easy passage home from the wars, and he has been forced to strike a deal with Poseidon, God of the Sea, to allow him safe passage home, on condition that he kills the first person he sets eyes on when he lands on his home shore.

Fate is always unkind; the first person he meets is his long lost son, Idamante, (Mark Wilde) who had been faithfully holding the fort for him, oppressing the Trojan prisoners and falling in love with the beautiful Trojan princess Ilia. (Anna Dennis) An embittered and jealous Electra (the formidable Donna Bateman) hovers around making trouble.

Passions are high: the protagonists suffer pangs of love and jealousy, conflicts of loyalty and the painful demands of duty. Life is hard enough for us humans anyway, but when you have to deal with the Gods who demand complete obedience, then you know you have problems.

Graham Vick has skilfully used the extraordinary set and space, in combination with the orchestra and performers to emerge the audience completely in the emotional highs and lows of the action.

The usual distancing conventions of opera - the stage, the curtain, the surtitles, the orchestra pit and the formality are removed. However, there definitely is a sense of occasion created, and it does not just come from the novelty of the venue – it comes from the charged experience of being in among the musicians and singers as they interpret this fascinating masterpiece.
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The lofty heights of the shop floor, somehow intensifies the domestic, personal crises of the protagonists as their figures stand out spare against the huge industrial backdrop. The lack of control individuals have over their own fates is painfully suggested.

The brilliant chorus sometimes move as a unified mass to suggest the universality of suffering or the infectious nature of emotions; at other times, they dissipate into groups or individuals to highlight the multiplicity of human responses to great events.

Most electrifying of all was multi-sensory effect of the lead singers arguing, pleading and agonising with each other in the midst of the audience. I was deeply moved by the troubled and yet loving relationships evoked with such sensitivity by Paul Nilon, Mark Wilde and the extraordinary Anna Dennis.

The audience lapped up Donna Bateman’s sensational descent into rage and madness at the end. It was a remarkable experience all around!

An underpinning principle of Birmingham Opera Company is “ a belief that Opera can speak directly.” Well, on the evidence of this production, I should say that they have been more than successful in living up to this precept. For audiences and participants alike this has surely been an enriching experience.