UK Edition
Review
The Devil Inside, Music Theatre Wales/Scottish Opera, Peacock Theatre, review: 'complete assurance'
Stuart MacRae's new opera is a bright, edgy take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s short story The Bottle Imp
Put out the flags, because it’s not often one can hail a new opera that integrates a musically taut score into a theatrically effective narrative.
An even rarer cause for rejoicing is a new opera during which one can close one’s eyes and still hear the text and feel the drama. So it’s respect all round for The Devil Inside.
Louise Welsh’s sharply honed libretto is inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s short story The Bottle Imp, a yarn running on the haunting notion of a magic flask containing a devilish creature which can grant all your earthly wishes – save that of cheating death.
But there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and possession of this talisman comes with some small print: if you can’t sell it on for a lower price than you paid for it, you will burn eternally in hell.
Stevenson set his moral fable in exotic Hawaii; Welsh’s version takes place in an all-too-familiar environment of western super-wealth, greed and addiction today. It neatly changes Stevenson’s abruptly glib happy ending – I won’t reveal the denouement – but retains a strong sense of his fascination with the Faustian idea of a blessing that is simultaneously a curse.
Welsh has clearly worked exceptionally closely with the composer Stuart MacRae. I had reservations about MacRae’s previous operas, The Assassin Tree and Ghost Patrol, but aside from a failure to bring the brew to a boil in the final scene, he seems master of his craft here.
The score is without lyrical marshmallow. It doesn’t charm or seduce: instead it’s powered by an abrasive vitality and nervous tension, shot through with bright edgy orchestration and vivid vocal writing that avoids extremes of pitch or gesture. Surtitles are provided, but they aren’t required: meaning is immediately communicated.
Co-producers Music Theatre Wales and Scottish Opera have provided an exemplary staging, directed and designed with economy and clarity by Matthew Richardson and Samal Blak. The cast is excellent too: Nicholas Sharratt and Ben McAteer as the two young men whose lives are both made and destroyed by the bottle, with Rachel Kelly and Steven Page as other figures embroiled in their dance with the devil.
Michael Rafferty conducts a band of 14 instrumentalists with complete assurance.
How refreshing to find a new opera that trusts in traditional story-telling and doesn’t attempt to sell itself by spurious gimmickry.
Until tonight, then touring until 18 Apr. Box office 020 7863 8222, www.musictheatrewales.org.uk