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The war against terror London
Coliseum
05/12/2005 - and 14, 18, 20, 25 May, 3, 7, 9, 15 June 2005
George Frideric Handel: Jephtha
Mark Padmore (Jephtha), Susan Bickley (Storge), Sarah Tynan (Iphis), Neal Davies (Zebul), Robin Blaze (Hamor), Sarah-Jane Davies (Angel)
Nicholas Kraemer (conductor/harpsichord), Katie Mitchell (director)
ENO Chorus and Orchestra
Mark Padmore (Jephtha), Susan Bickley (Storge), Sarah Tynan (Iphis), Neal Davies (Zebul), Robin Blaze (Hamor), Sarah-Jane Davies (Angel)
Nicholas Kraemer (conductor/harpsichord), Katie Mitchell (director)
ENO Chorus and Orchestra
When Arsenal won the FA Cup in Cardiff on the afternoon before the first performance of Katie Mitchell's production on Jephtha by the Welsh National Opera in 2003, a couple of months after the invasion of Iraq, there was some concern for the health of Arsene Wenger's daughter, if he has one). Two years later, the question of the moral cost of leadership against a morally repugnant enemy is painfully immediate, with reference both to Iraq and to world terrorism. Katie Mitchell's visually stunning and emotionally draining production of Jephtha ought to hit even harder. Mark Padmore as Jephtha even looks and acts more than a touch like Tony Blair, although Mitchell's concept, Israel as an unnamed nation resisting the Nazis during the second world war, casts him more as, perhaps, Churchill or the King of the Netherlands.
Yet Mitchell's production hasn't transferred well to the Coliseum, although the cast is mainly the same. A part of the problem is simply the space: the visual design, with an ingenious fade-to-black between lightening scene changes, treated the proscenium like a cinema screen and provided a context for intensely detailed personal interactions. What worked in the New Theatre and similar sized houses on tour has not scaled up easily, and the singers looked lost in the much wider set. And the close interactions of the singers stopped them singing effectively: Susan Bickley as Storge sang "Let other creatures die" directly into Jephtha's face, which prevented the other 2500 people in the house from hearing much of it, although she is supposed to be bringing down the universe around her in rage. Only the baroque-sized orchestra, playing modern instruments, seemed to have the measure of the house, although Nicholas Kraemer often chose slow tempos that were between limp and excruciating.
The highly qualified singers seemed generally ill at ease on the first night. Padmore was at times underpowered in the title role, as if directed to sing hesitantly when he should have expressed hesitancy in his singing. Bickley, who has delivered some amazing performances at the Coliseum including a shattering neurasthenic Cassandra in The Trojans, was similarly over-veristic, starting out trembling and anxious and exploding with rage with little connection to the music. Bickley can certainly act, but it would have been better if she had been allowed to sing as well. Sarah Tynan was similarly obliged to over-emote as the about-to-be-sacrificed Iphis, collapsing in panic as she sang of her hope of brighter scenes above. Only Robin Blaze as an amiable, romantic Hamor had the space to sing, and did very well.
The intricacies of the chorus were also somewhat lost in the Coliseum, coming over much of the time as congregational hymns, and often a bit sluggish.
HE Elsom
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