Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, but transferred to a dystopian England trying to deter migrants? But Wagner's tale (already taken and adapted from Heine’s version of the legendary story) was of a ghostly ship destined to remain at sea unless the Dutchman can find redemption in the love of a woman. Well, the core sense of loss at sea, timelessness and a search for safe harbour has taken director Lucy Bradley in a whole new direction with OperaUpClose, with the Mariner bringing refugees to the south coast of England, but lost and unable to make safe landing. Set in the near future (“Here and soon” is the opening direction of Glyn Maxwell’s new English libretto), the production was originally conceived pre-pandemic, yet it has even greater resonance in current times, with the rhetoric about stopping “small boats” and making refugees more and more unwelcome seemingly rachetting up on a daily basis. As Starlight says, “still they sail”. That “soon” feels very much now...
So we have Captain Dee returning from laying cables to deter migrant boats, and the Mariner thinks he is sailing alone in hell, despite a boat full of migrants (who we never see). The Watch is a group of locals, led by Mari, who keep a lookout for migrant boats in order to report them to the authorities (based on an actual group of Kent residents who have done just that). Starlight is a member of The Watch, but has become disillusioned and now sympathises with the migrants.
Bradley's staging is minimal, with wafting black material a little predictably employed for the waves and sparse lighting cutting through the predominant darkness, with only high-vis jackets bringing any colour to proceedings. However, it was the power and intensity of the acting, led by Pauls Putnins as the Mariner and Philippa Boyle as Starlight, that drew one in and propelled the evening above concert performance. That, and the versatile eight-piece band, spread out on the stage, interacting with the singers and taking on multiple roles in the action. With the singers among them, they certainly embodied the company's name.
Each act began with Neil Balfour’s radio announcements, mixing shipping forecast with snippets of musical analysis and hints of the plot, matching the production’s somewhat opaque narrative. Without prior reading of the digital programme and the handout sheet’s synopsis, it is fair to say the plot would have been a challenge to follow in places, despite impeccable diction from the singers.
Latvian bass-baritone Putnins delivered the Mariner with steely eyes and intense facial expression, matched by his assured yet anguished tone, gripping attention throughout. Boyle’s Starlight was equally captivating, and her powerful soprano up close was something to behold. Mezzo-soprano Carolyn Holt had two characters to play which diluted the clarity of her characterisation, but her scenes as Mari with Starlight (according to a brief hint in the programme note, they were ex-lovers, which might have passed the audience by if they hadn’t read this in advance) were convincing, and her tone was crystal clear. Bass Timothy Dawkins captured the dubious morals of Captain Dee with richness and convincing strength.
And what of reducing Wagner’s score to eight instruments? It may not be Wagner at his most extreme, but ten brass and eight woodwinds means a lot of layers to lose. However, Laura Bowler’s scoring is highly effective, with remarkably little cut from the original, although relegation of the overture largely to a snippet of recorded footage as if it was a radio broadcast was a little disappointing, if understandable. Use of accordion was a deft move to add depth to the otherwise sparse musical texture, and the bass clarinet also added richness and support to the horn as the sole brass representative (Mark Bennett deserving particular mention here for flawless playing, positioned as most of the players were, just inches from the front row of the audience).
Music Director Tim Burke and all the Manchester Camerata players were incredibly tight, and their doubling as chorus was effective and impressively effortless, with players switching back and forth from voice to instrument phrase by phrase at some points. Only at the start of Act 3 did their choral efforts drift a little far into football crowd territory, albeit an understandable intention of capturing a raucous mood. There are also some effective pre-recorded sections of chorus, performed by community singers from some of the tour's locations, broadcast via ‘radio’.
The voyage continues around UK venues.
