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The Magic Flute: ENO : Review

November 13, 2013

Magic Flute 2

From its sudden and clever opening to the equally dramatic close this new production directed by Simon McBurney’s of Complicite – the game changing theatre group he founded in the 80’s – caught the attention of the audience and kept it held close like one of the delightful flapping paper birds that followed Papageno around. The setting feels organically oppressive, from some twisted industrial imaginarium, not the cutest setting but it does rather grab the attention and in Complicites usual style nothing is quite what it seems and dark magical adventure is all around.

It’s a delightful odd story anyway so all this mucking about and sheer inventive staging adds clarity to parts and detracts from some of the more obscure plot points, in fact even with all its crepuscular suggestiveness I thought this was one of clearest performances of The Magic Flute I’ve seen, mostly making as much sense as is possible from this late Mozart opera.

Read the synopsis here: 

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Ben Johnson as Tamino was convincing and full voiced throughout but I never really cared or felt for him, Cornelia Götz as the Queen of the Night was effectively menacing but also her vulnerability and cornered demented rage is highlighted and there was more than a touch of Baby Jane about the mad desperate wheelchair choreography. It was all very darkly camp, her coloratura arias were produced with fire but little passion. Equally ambiguous is James Creswell whose cult like father figure of Sarastro is supported by his creepy corporate accolades, all logic and reason but with a cold hearted complicit determination. Devon Guthrie brought a determined voice to her role as Pamina. Roland Wood’s Papageno was one of the best timed comedy performances I’ve witnessed this year and his accomplished baritone singing only added to his charming presence. The rather underused but utterly delightful Mary Bevan as Papagena brought the perfect contrast out and I was transfixed. Special mention must go to the wonderfully creepy performance from Brian Galliford as Monostatos who managed to elicit both sympathy and disgust at the same time, and the three boys whose veiled and magical appearance was as ethereally spot on as their singing.

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The deconstructive staging, a hallmark of Complicite was effective and honest and brought the often hidden workings of stage hands, quick changes and clever effects to the front of the stage and injected some clever knowing humour. It’s fun to be able to see and appreciate the effort that goes into such stage effects and something as simple as a hand writing on a projected chalk board and then wiping the board in the rhythms of the music is surprisingly effective at setting the scene. The raised pit which brought us the orchestra up close and some spot-lighted flute and glockenspiel playing (for the magical bells) also added to this feeling of being part of the action. The subtle battle between superstition and enlightenment is brought to the fore in this staging and no one character is allowed the simplicity of a pure interpretation, this is reflected in the main stage which is constantly titling, raising and lowering.  This convincing and transformative effect bringing the story alive, the projections – both live from the side of the stage – and some immersive representations of the trials were wonderfully witty and were visually arresting, the water trial being particularly witty.

Check out the trailer from the ENO here:

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Gergely Madarasb conducted with passion and this young man brought a jumpy enthusiastic clarity to the score, although on occasion producing something slower than I would have liked. Overall the music had the freshness and verve that’s necessary to move the narrative on. Conversely there were already parts of the narrative that were being hop, skipped and jumped over so this altering of pace was slightly disconcerting to me, but my companion who had not seen Opera before was transfixed and followed the story with ease.  The downside of this production is the libretto. The translation was less than sparkling and I felt that a little more attention could have been paid to word choice with no expense to the jokes.

This was a funny and interesting performance, and funny in lots of new ways, with some uber chic nods towards social media and some very old-fashioned stage effect jokes. It’s a thoughtful & comical production and one the ENO should be rightly proud of staging, and it’s also a perfect pre Christmas Opera too, light, silly, sublime, a touch of fireworks more than a hefty dollop of Tim Burton type darkness and balanced with the sublime music, leaving you with an all round warm feeling of an evening well spent

Recommended!

English National Opera

The Magic Flute by W.A. Mozart

London Colosseum. St Martins Lane. London

Until December 7

Performances on Nov 14, 16, 19, 22, 28 & 30 and December 3, 5 & 7

For more into or to buy tickets CLICK HERE: 

 

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