Scottish Opera
Theatre Royal – 12 March 2019
Reviewer: Kelvin Holdsworth
*** – three stars
As soon as the curtain goes up on Scottish Opera’s new production of Katya Kabanova is it obvious that director Stephen Lawless has a big vision to share. The stage is dominated by rusty iron girders forming a bridge over the River Volga. The gantries of this enormous structure have people passing to and fro at some height above the stage going about their daily business. This is a production that looks very striking from the very beginning. What’s more, the bridge turns out to have a mind of its own, the gantries and structures moving up and down, dominating the whole of the stage, throughout the evening.
Dramatically, we do know where we are from the beginning. During the overture, we see what will obviously be the final denouement of the tragedy – a ground of villagers discovering the body of Katya by the river, to the obvious disdain of her mother-in-law. This device (reminiscent of a recent production of Paglicacci at the Royal Opera House) shows director Stephen Lawless’s strong commitment to telling the story.
Musically things started very confidently with a glorious pure chord from the orchestra that came right out of the depths of the river. Sadly this confidence wasn’t sustained for long. The glory faded and a rather lacklustre overture set the tone for an evening of rather underwhelming playing from the orchestra who sounded underprepared. Stuart Stratford’s conducting was sympathetic to the voices but it felt very much as though things might improve after another couple of performances. It does seem rather shocking that there are only five performances of this production in Scotland and it was very obviously the case that the first night seats had not sold well.
Janáček’s score is an exciting as ever though and there’s some good singing. If there’s any trouble with the singers it is that it doesn’t feel like a particularly balanced stage. Notwithstanding the powerful emotions of Laura Wilde as Katya herself, the vocal honours belong firmly with Patricia Bardon who sings everyone else off the stage as the wicked Kabanicha.
The central scene where Katya decides to express her love for Boris Grigoryevich played by Ric Furman seemed to suggest that the passion was all hers. Katya in this production was clearly struggling to maintain her own psychological wellbeing and her eventual suicide when she throws herself from the bridge was all too believable. Her own sense of self had no place in a cruel world in which she was misunderstood and rejected.
One rather puzzling detail affecting the overall look of the production is the strange look of the faces of the cast. An odd interaction between the lighting and the make-up gave everyone a decidedly green tinge. It was as though everyone was feeling decidedly queasy. The gantries of the great bridge crossing the stage caused the singers to be singing significant parts of the work from very high in the proscenium arch. The higher they were, the greener they became.
Music from Janáček – faces from Wicked.