Conductor-Henrik Nánási: cast – Jenufa: Asmik Grigorian; Kostelnicka: Karita Mattila; Laca: Nicky Spence; Števa: Saimir Pirgu. Director: Claus Guth; Set designer, Michael Levine
This was exactly the sort of performance and production which should give opera a good name among those who expect from it standards of acting, production and design similar to those you’d anticipate from a play at the National Theatre or RSC.
The basic set was a huge box enclosing the stage, made of white narrow horizontally placed wooden-like beams. Colours were black and white, with the only colour provided by peasant women’s costumes for the wedding in Act 3. The Kostelnicka’s house in Act 2 is made of angular metal rods. Beginning each act, a grid at the front of the box is raised. The overall effect is of imprisonment and oppression, and is obviously intended to mirror the restrictions and conventions of life in the Czech village at the centre of the drama. The wall at the back of the stage in Act showed in silhouette women in desperate poses of attempted. In the first act, there are a number of beds placed against the outer walls, with male chorus members on them, moving in robotic fashion at points. It wasn’t clear what the point of this was – one review said it was a workhouse, another that it represented how lazy the villagers were! The mattresses from the beds seem to be strewn around outside the Kostelnicka’s house in Act 2 (one review said this was intended to look like snow……). In Act 3, very effectively, flowers for the wedding were strewn on the floor. So…not all of it made immediate sense (on the other hand, the vision of the dead husband of the Kostelnicka with a bloodied head was effective). At least from my vantage point (a good Lower Slips seat) the wandering large crow which reviews spoke of seemed to have been ‘disappeared’. escape. But – it was a fundamentally serious and thought-provoking production. It also had a coup de theatre at the end when the front grid is lowered but Laca and Jenufa position themselves in front of it – they have escaped imprisonment!
The production was thus an effective and credible frame for two remarkable performances. Karita Mattila was mesmerising as the Kostelnicka. She is one of those very few performers – I can think of Boris Christoff and Janet Baker as two other examples – who simply by being on stage command attention. It is impossible to say how they do this – but you know it when you see it! What was remarkable about Mattila’s performance was not just her stage presence, but the power and nuancing of her singing – in a role that is usually given to distinguished singers who are just a little superannuated she sounded absolutely at her prime. Deservedly she received the biggest ovation at the end, and as the curtain came down Jenufa did a little curtsey to her.
Asmik Gregorian had all that it takes to be a very effective Jenufa indeed – she looks very credible, she acts well, and she has a powerful voice. I didn’t get much sense of nuance for the most part in how she used her voice, though her song to the new-born baby in Act 2 was beautiful. Nicky Spence sounded a bit underpowered as Laca – slightly worrying for his Siegmund at the ENO less than 8 weeks away – maybe it was just where I was sitting. All the other roles were never less than well-sung and acted.
The other thing to be said is that – although I have been to several other Janacek operas, and have known Katya Kabanova for 50 years, I have never listened at home to Jenufa or seen it live, so it was a first for me. What a stunning work it! So many moments of beauty and grandeur……I will want to go back to listen to my download of the Mackerras recording from WNO (which I bought 5 years ago but have never got round to listening to). It’s wonderful to come to such a work for the first tine! It seems to me more dramatically credible than Katya Kabanova which simply moves at too fast a pace to make the story seem real.
John's musical journey 