Robert Hayward, The Dutchman; Layla Claire, Senta; Thomas D. Hopkinson, Daland; Edgaras Montvidas, Erik / Steuermann; Molly Barker, Mary. Garry Walker, Conductor; Annabel Arden, Director; Joanna Parker; Set, Costume & Video Designer; Kevin Treacy, Lighting Designer
I have never in my life been to Leeds before, let alone the Grand Theatre….which is indeed Grand, almost seemingly Coliseum-like in appearance and proportions. I enjoyed my trip!
The basic concept in this new production – much commented on in reviews – is of the Dutchman and his crew as asylum seekers. While Mary, the spinning women (not that there’s any spinning going on here) and Senta are much as they are in other productions, Daland and his crew become Home Office border staff, with lanyards. There are aspects of the work which this approach enhances – in particular the motivation of Senta, who is gripped with compassion for asylum seekers and whose obsession with the Dutchman is seen in that context. It allows a coup de theatre at the end, where Senta, rather than throwing herself off a cliff picks up oddments of refugee clothing and literally disappears into anonymity – her empathy is so complete she becomes a refugee herself. Each of the three Acts is prefaced by the recorded voice of an actual asylum seeker talking about some of their grim experiences, and this is very powerful. On the other hand, the Dutchman’s character is not really illuminated that much by the asylum seekers concept – and indeed this just seems inappropriate when he’s shoving jewellery into Daland’s capacious pockets. He is not seeking empathy but ‘redemption’ and a release from Satan’s curse, and that, as I’ve said before in this blog, is a hot potato area which directors are uncomfortable about addressing. The asylum seekers concept and the curse fundamentally don’t quite sit with each other. As for Daland’s crew, some of the nautical language can in fact sound like a metaphor for the impact of some of the asylum seekers’ data they’re examining -‘stormy weather, a ‘fair wind’ – but on the whole the music and a lot of the sailing terms make the concept a bit ridiculous. It was not quite clear what Mary and her followers were doing during the Spinning chorus but it could well have been sorting out second-hand clothes for asylum seekers or a charity shop, and this did support the director’s concept – on the other hand, the ghostly chorus, focused as it was on the curse, seemed utterly outside the asylum seeker paradigm, as did the Steersman in his Act 1 song. So the asylum seekers idea is not 100% successful or even a very good fit, and it is at its most awkward in Act 1. On the other hand, it certainly doesn’t get in the way of a very powerful performance of Acts 2 and 3 in this production and at times does illuminate them, and there are resonances in the text which reinforce on occasion the aptness of the concept.
The set was curious – in Acts 1 and 2 the set back cloth was black with two or three grey sail-like pieces of cloth suspended above the stage. There was then a long slightly raised platform upstage which served as a Home Office desk and the Steersman’s bed in Act 1. In Act 3 the essential setting was a bar with glittering lights and a sense of the border guards being quite well off. In all three Acts there were several bundles of what I assume were either asylum seekers’ clothes or perhaps detritus from the small boats, hanging down above the stage. There was extensive use of videos – one of the rolling sea during the Overture with ghostly presences imposed – maybe Senta, maybe asylum seekers; plus several in Act 3 and elsewhere which might have been raids on asylum seekers houses- it wasn’t very clear. The most impressive video was of sets of data constantly scrolling up and down for the Home Office in Act 1.
Musically and dramatically the performance was very strong and overall I enjoyed this far more than the ROHCG one a couple of years ago with Bryn Terfel. The production uses the original three Act version of the work and there are some minor differences from the more familiar later straight-through version used in Bayreuth and Covent Garden. Opera North used the version that ends with the ‘redemption’ theme. Layla Claire was outstanding as Senta. She’s one of those singing actors who automatically become the centre of attention when on stage – striking in appearance, young, she conveyed all of Senta’s obsession. Her crawl across Daland’s dining table towards the Dutchman was mesmerising, and her contribution in Act 3 was about the best I’ve heard live. Her voice was powerful when it needed to be – though maybe she couldn’t quite manage to sing some of her more lyrical phrases quietly or sensitively enough. Robert Hayward, a veteran of many Wagner performances over the last almost 40 years, handled ‘Die Frist ist Um’ very well – better than Terfel when i last heard him – with a commanding top note, and his, and Claire’s contributions were both outstanding in the Act 2 ‘duet’. In his final peroration he was again imposing and impressive in announcing his name. The director had the Dutchman making quite odd-looking somnambulist gestures when moving about that detracted from Hayward’s natural authority rather than the reverse. A plus point for both the Dutchman’s costume and what Senta put on in Act 2, particularly the ‘Wanderer’ like hats, gave them both a sense of otherness which I am sure Wagner wanted. Thomas D Hopkinson replaced Clive Bayley as Daland – sickness – and gave an effective performance. The Lithuanian tenor Edgaras Montvidas gave one of the most convincing and sympathetic portrayals of Erik I have ever seen, with a strong but sweet tenor voice – he very much wasn’t a wimp in this performance. The Opera North chorus were very impressive in the sheer volume they produced and their Act 3 contributions were tight and powerful. The Grand Theatre pit sound, from where I was sitting in the stalls, was oddly dead, and the orchestra occasionally had some wobbles, particularly the horns. Gary Walker’s conducting though was thoroughly supportive of the singers and gave an exciting pulse to the end of Act 2 and the rapidly developing drama of Act 3
John's musical journey 