Swanhunter review – moments of stratsopheric vocalism and charming animal puppets

Aimed at adults and children from seven upwards, Jonathan Dove’s opera was premiered by Opera North in 2009. Six years later, in collaboration with the theatrical group The Wrong Crowd, the company gives it a second production at the Linbury before going on tour.

The title refers to one of the heroes of the Finnish national epic Kalevala, best known musically from Sibelius’s orchestral suite on the same subject. Lemminkäinen sets out from home to travel to the north to find a bride. There, he asks for the daughter of the powerful witch Louhi, but she will only agree if Lemminkäinen can perform three difficult tasks. First, he must hunt down the devil’s elk, then ride the devil’s horse and, finally, shoot the swan that lives on Death’s river. And it is while attempting this final feat that Lemminkäinen is, at least temporarily, undone.

It’s a complicated tale, but partly owing to the many verbal repetitions in Dove’s setting of Alasdair Middleton’s libretto, enough of the text comes across for an attentive audience to be able to follow it – even without surtitles. Dove provides a skilfully scored accompaniment for just six players, with violinist Tom Greed and accordionist Miloš Milivojević adding in much of the folksy character that gives the result colour. Justin Doyle conducts efficiently, only occasionally allowing the band – placed to one side of the stage – to cover the voices.

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Dove says he was attracted to the subject because, in the story, singing has magical powers, and there are indeed several points when one of the characters has a striking moment of resplendent vocalism, most notably when soprano Suzanne Shakespeare’s Swan rises to stratospheric heights and then stays there, floating up above for several minutes. Dove’s technical skills are impressive, and even if little of the score sticks in the mind, it is neatly written and has the virtue of being easy to listen to.

Designed by Rachael Canning, who also created the animal puppets operated by the singing cast that provide the show’s most memorable visual images, Hannah Mulder’s staging sets the opera at a campsite, where the story of Lemminkäinen is told and then comes to life with the campers becoming the characters. Adrian Dwyer makes a bold Lemminkäinen, with Ann Taylor moving as his mother, Rebecca Afonwy-Jones an imperious Louhi, Christopher Diffey, her cunning son Soppy Hat and Matthew Hargreaves terrifying as Death.