Thebans, ENO, London Coliseum, review: 'adequate but not inspired'

It’s not often that one finds oneself complaining that an opera is too short, but that’s one of my gripes with Julian Anderson’s Thebans, a new piece set to a libretto compressed with brisk efficiency by Frank McGuinness from a translation of three dramas by Sophocles.

The tale of Oedipus the Theban king can just about be contained in 50 minutes - Stravinsky did so, magnificently. But Antigone in 20 minutes, and Oedipus at Colonus in 30? There’s just no time for character to develop or audience involvement to deepen: it’s as though the fast forward button has been left running and there’s no time to think.

Anderson springs no musical surprises in Oedipus the King, which all sounds pretty much as one would imagine - angular, percussive and declamatory, with nods made stylistically to all the great modern masters from Bartok to Birtwistle. Throughout, the evocative choral writing is much more engaging than the solo arioso, which honours the words but almost never catches lyrical fire.

After the first interval - and out of chronological order, for no discernible dramaturgical reason - comes Antigone, for which Anderson produces more incisive and arresting sounds and rhythms, suggestive of Creon’s tyrannical regime. But Antigone herself is given only one major utterance before she is buried alive, and her epic clash of moral absolutes with Creon never registers.

We then spool back to blind and ailing Oedipus’ arrival in Athens. Potentially the strongest episode of the trilogy, Anderson again offers some inventive orchestral and choral writing, but fails to deliver vocal lines that sing. And instead of the glow of resignation and reconciliation that colours the climax of Sophocles’ play, the ending is merely abrupt.

An adequate but not inspired production by Pierre Audi is designed with cool chic by Tom Pye. The splendid cast is without a weak link, though a throat infection inhibits Roland Wood’s Oedipus and Julia Sporsen is cheated of any music in which to bring Antigone to psychological life. Anthony Gregory’s beautiful tenor makes a special mark in the Stranger from Corinth’s monologue, as does the promising young baritone Jonathan McGovern as Polynices.

In the pit the conductor Edward Gardner and his orchestra give the score 100 per cent, but the material remains chilly, and even their commitment can’t give Thebans the beating heart that it sadly lacks.

Until June 3. Tickets: 0207 845 9420; eno.org

Buy tickets to Thebans from Telegraph Box Office.