US Edition 
The Cunning Little Vixen, Garsington Opera, review: 'teeming with life'
This new production of Janacek’s masterpiece expertly captures the composer's unsettling heartache and brims with fine performances
Janacek’s unsettling heartache in the opening of The Cunning Little Vixen is seldom captured as well as under Garry Walker’s baton at Garsington Opera, and almost never evoked so profoundly as in Daniel Slater’s new production. As the orchestral prelude unfolds, we see lost souls sitting in the bar of a Moravian country inn, where the Forester and a flame-haired woman are eyeing each other up warily.
She soon turns out to be the Vixen herself, a simple transformation accomplished when she dons her fox-fur collared coat, but equally she represents the unseen character of Terynka, who is never far from the erotic longings of the village men. More than in most productions, Terynka’s fascination haunts the air, a reminder of the composer’s unrequited feelings for his muse Kamila Stösslová while writing this pantheistic masterpiece, premiered in 1924.
An opera that explores man’s relationship with nature while celebrating the natural order, however amoral its example, this bucolic piece has an edgy side that leaves some productions unsure of whether to lean towards The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Percy the Park Keeper. Slater and his designer, Robert Innes Hopkins, strike an ideal balance. The shabby pub is decorated with leafy wallpaper that brings nature inside, complementing the way in which the Opera Pavilion at Wormsley allows evening light to stream onto the set.
Portraying animals on stage is always tricky, and Slater and Hopkins find an elegant solution in the way they blur the natural and human worlds. Though the costumes have plenty of animal-like detail (with codpieces that are as much optimistic as animalistic), this is less a case of the creatures being anthropomorphised than the humans’ animal instincts being dramatized. This is indeed faithful to the score, in which onomatopoeic sounds and village bands mix, and both aspects are vividly conveyed in the brimming orchestral playing.
Claire Booth gives an outstanding performance in the title role, singing with brilliant focus acting with a physicality that makes her equally a femme fatale and a force of nature. Victoria Simmonds plays a sincere Fox. The Forester acquires dignity in Grant Doyle’s warmly sung performance, and Timothy Robinson’s plangent tenor brings out the sadness of the Schoolmaster touchingly. Henry Waddington’s bellicose Priest also stands out in a large cast. From the knitting, moral-guardian hens to the free-spirited dancers (Maxime Braham is the choreographer), this is a stage teeming with life.
Until July 12 Tickets: 01865 361636; garsingtonopera.org