Many of us have experienced the aggravation of being stranded at an airport. In Jonathan Dove’s Flight, however, the wait for that delayed plane assumes existential overtones. Given an outstanding new production by Opera Holland Park, Dove’s 1998 comedy was inspired by the true story of a refugee who lived for some years in Paris Charles de Gaulle, without ever being able to leave the building.
Dove universalises his experience during a single night in which atrocious weather grounds everyone’s planes and the Refugee is confronted by a disparate group of characters, all of them fleeing from something and uncertain of what awaits them at their eventual destinations. Three couples with relationship problems and an Older Woman waiting in vain for her younger lover are overseen by an authoritarian Controller and a rule-bound Immigration Officer, both in search of their basic humanity.
The opera’s post-minimalist idiom may not be to everyone’s taste, and there are occasional dips in tension, but it’s hard not to be swayed by the warmth and optimism with which Dove takes his protagonists on their voyages of self-discovery.
Classily conducted by Brad Cohen and directed with tremendous flair by Stephen Barlow, the production boasts the finest ensemble cast to be heard in London for some time: there’s not a duff performance anywhere. James Laing’s Christ-like Refugee slowly wins the compassion of Jennifer France’s ice-maiden Controller and John Savournin’s dour Immigration Officer. Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts is sweet and touching as unhappily married Bill, joyously discovering his bisexuality with George von Bergen’s picture-perfect Steward. Lucy Schaufer’s Older Woman really tugs your heart, and Victoria Simmonds is extraordinarily moving as heavily pregnant Minskwoman, the sudden arrival of whose baby ushers thoughts of renewal and hope into everyone’s lives. A wonderfully affirmative evening: go and see it.
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