Anyone expecting a blaze of colour evocative of sunny Spain and the fiery temperament of Bizet’s femme fatale gets it in the brilliant hues of the front cloth, but for barely two minutes. With the first note of the ominous death theme, the apparently vibrant start to Welsh National Opera’s new season gives way to a dismal scene. Director Jo Davies transposes the opera to Brazil circa the 1970s, ostensibly taking a feminist stance and posing the #MeToo question: why should Carmen have to die for the crime of being a rebellious free spirit, craving love yet refusing to be trapped by a man and caged?
Leslie Travers’ design has a curve of tiered galleries looking into a courtyard, creating a slummy favela of sorts, the elements of garrison guard, arms- and drug-smuggling and factory workers as though randomly imposed. It is possible to work out a vague rationale, but the scenario feels a contrivance, with layer upon layer of frenetic business supporting the concept but incidental to the music. Dance is another distraction: a female clad in black is the figure of death shadowing Carmen, taking attention away from focal dramatic moments, as when the cards predict what she already perceives as her inevitable demise.
In the title role, Virginie Verrez is feisty, with an impressive vocal presence, her native French allowing the words to emerge clearly, though somehow falling short of being the personification of Carmen. Dmitri Pittas’s Don José matches her in volume, but is too forceful of tone to elicit sympathy for his obsession, while Phillip Rhodes has the swagger to be an Escamillo plausible enough to merit the transfer of Carmen’s attentions.
WNO’s musical director Tomáš Hanus ensures that the true passion flows from the pit, treating Bizet’s wonderful instrumental lines with as much respect as those of the singers and arguing a case for the score to be heard as a prototype for the realism of verismo. But, ultimately, this is a staging where the directorial add-ons don’t amount to an overall gain in the operatic experience.