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Turn a stone and stir a wing London
Christchurch, Highbury Grove
07/07/1999 - and 8, 9, 10 July 1999
Jonathan Dove Tobias and the Angel (World première)
David Barrell (Tobit), Buddug Verona James (Anna), Andrew Burden (Tobias), Jonathan Peter Kenny (Raphael),Philip Sheffield (Raguel), Fiona O'Neill (Edna), Ann Taylor (Sara), Omar Ebrahim (Asmodeus)
David Parry (conductor), Kate Brown (director)
The Almeida Ensemble and Chorus, Collegium Musicum of London
Jonathan Dove's new opera Tobias and the Angel is described as a
church parable. But its rich and simple telling of a Jewish folk tale is a
long way from the brittle anxieties of Britten's church parables, and
closer in some ways to the English mystery plays, with a certain grim
humour and suggestive symbolism. Commissioned for Almeida Opera and St
Matthew's, Perry Beeches, in Birmingham, it works wonderfully in this
engaging production in the nave of Christchurch, Highbury.
Dove and his librettist David Lan focus the story and music throughout on
ways of sensing (and finding pleasure in) the imperceptible. The just man
Tobit is mocked by the people of Nineve for burying Jews murdered by the
king, then he becomes blind and is (effectively) left only with his inner
understanding of justice. Tobit's son Tobias meets a stranger dancing in a
totally strange way during the jazzing and jiving in Nineve. But they
become pals, and the stranger goes with Tobias to Ecbatana to collect a
debt from Tobit's cousin Raguel. On the way, the stranger invites Tobias to
listen to the trees, the mountains, the river and the giant fish in it,
which he kills. Meanwhile (in interwoven scenes) Raguel's daughter Sara has
been married seven times, and every bridegroom has died on the wedding
night, killed by the invisible demon Asmodeus who is in love with Sara.
Raguel, hoping not to have to hand over the debt, has Tobias marry Sara.
But Sara's beauty has made Tobias aware of the silent song. With help from
the stranger, he destroys the demon with the fish's heart, and returns home
with the money to cure his father. The stranger turns out to be the angel
Raphael, answering the prayers of Tobit and Sara unknown to them.
The music is straightforward, a thoroughly enjoyable mixture of
near-eastern and traditional English modality, with infectious
Kletzmer-like dances in Nineve and for Sara and Tobias' wedding. The music
of silence to which Raphael dances is an angelic harp, while the voices of
nature are imaginative synaesthetic evocations of what a tree and the
mountains would sound like if you heard them instead of seeing them. The
mountains, for example, make solid rows of the word "silence".
The production used a stationary tower, opposite the church's pulpit from
which David Parry conducted the orchestra in front of the altar, and a
movable bed. Scenes were picked out by Johanna Tower's ingenous lighting.
At one point Tobit and his wife Anna were lit in white as he mourned his
blindness, while Sara and her parents were lit in orange like a baroque
painting as they mourned the death of her most recent husband. On a bright
summer evening, the effects was luminous and amazingly powerful.
The trees were the chorus men lit in green, and holding branches. The river
and fish were the chorus women and children dressed in blue, and holding up
the fish's rainbow scales and fins on sticks. A comical group of
gravediggers, with various accents, provided some broader humour. The
costumes of the characters were mainly Rubens-biblical, to match the
lighting.
The main characters were all honestly performed. Ann Taylor as Sara sang
passionately, and became beautifully serene. Buddug Verona James was
striking and forceful in the smallish part of Anna, Tobit's wife. David
Barrell was a dignified Tobit, and Andrew Burden was an amiable, slightly
laddish Tobias. Jonathan Peter Kenney, dressed in white with highlighted
hair, stood out effectively from the crowd, and made good use of the
moments when the music let his voice stand out. Omar Ibrahim was a very
unpleasant demon, lecherous and destructive, perched on the roof of Sara's
marriage bed. His cries of "Sara" at the very end provided a frightening
reminder that not everything invisible is beautiful.
David Parry directed the Almeida Ensemble (in something like Kletzmer
configuration, plus harp) in spirited and lucid performance.
Tobias and the angel doesn't have any of the aspirations (or
pretensions) of Dove's Flight, which is going to the Glyndebourne
Festival this summer. It deals with the material in a way that is rich
enough to be interesting, but it's also clear and singable, entirely
suitable for community performances with professional singers in the larger
roles.
H.E. Elsom
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