Smetana, The Bartered Bride:
Soloists, Chorus, Mid Wales Opera Chamber Orchestra, Theatre
Elli, Llanelli, West Wales, 22.09.2006 (GPu)
Conductor: Keith Darlington
Director: Stephen Medcalf
Designer: Nicky Shaw
Lighting: Robert Wallbank
Choreographer: Sarah Fahie
Marenka / Myfanwy: Camilla Roberts
Jenik / Joseph: Adrian Dwyer
Kecal / Kettle: Simon Wilding
Vasek / Victor: Christopher Steele
Krusina / Lloyd-Morgan: Mark Saberton
Ludmilla / Morwenna: Gaynor Keeble
Micha / Toby Mitchell: Sion Gorowny
Hata / Hattie Mitchell: Sarah Jillian Cox
Ringmaster: Ian Jervis
Esmeralda: Olivia Ray
Indian / Bass Chorus: Alex Poulton
Soprano Chorus: Shuna Scott Sendall
Soprano Chorus: Caroline Amnéus
Tenor Chorus: Darren Clarke
Circus Performer: Big Gray
Circus Performer: Joelle
Grand as ‘Grand’ Opera can be, there is also
much to be said for the kind of small-scale productions
put on by touring companies – when they are well
done. At their best these are not merely black and white
reproductions of coloured originals. They have their own
virtues, not least intimacy and clarity.
Mid-Wales Opera has been responsible for a whole series
of such productions, since its foundation in 1988, including
in recent years Cosi fan tutte (2001), La Cenerentola
(2002), Don Giovanni (2003), Rigoletto (2004) and Carmen
(2005). These productions – generally very well
received critically – have been toured to a huge
range of (mostly) small venues in (mostly) areas where
live opera would not otherwise be heard. Now they have
turned their attentions to Smetana’s The Bartered
Bride, sung in English in a new translation by Amanda
Holden.
Smetana’s opera can seem so Czech, so much the early
nationalist opera, that audiences can be left on the outside,
peering in at an anthropologically interesting oddity,
graced by some fine music. Mid-Wales Opera have, rather
brilliantly, solved that problem by transposing the narrative
to Wales. This is The Bartered Bride, if not quite in
Llaregyb, at any rate in a kind of mythical small Welsh
town, full of affectionately observed stereotypes. And
it is sufficiently well sung and played for one to want
to echo the sentiments of Dylan Thomas’s Reverend
Eli Jenkins of Llaregyb – “Praise the Lord!
We are a musical nation”.
The geographical transposition works well – in terms
of the sense of Welsh nationalism, sustained in the face
of a larger, more powerful neighbour and articulated in
such activities as the Eistedddfod and (somewhat differently)
the Rugby club. Both provide suitable social occasions
for some of Smetana’s music of dance and celebration.
The choreography by Sarah Fahie attractively and intriguingly
builds on resemblances between certain Welsh folk dances
and dances such as the Polka and the Skocná. Amanda
Holden’s translation is witty and skilful –
my favourite rhyme fellows were “a pig in clover”
and “a modern Casanova”! Stephen Medcalf’s
production soon persuaded one that relocating the tale
in Wales was far more than a mere gimmick. It has a totally
plausible dramatic coherence and, above all, it encouraged
the audience to recognise themselves in what they saw,
to see what is there in Karel Sabina’s original
libretto and Smetana’s music – not some quaint
goings on in foreign land, but a narrative of love and
vulnerability, of parents and children, of a cynicism
which calls itself realism, of hope, desire and fear,
of, that is to say, the emotions and attitudes through
which we all live our lives. Sabina’s story has
all the features of a Romance – the celebration
of spring and renewal, the triumph of love, the victory
of the young over the old, a lost son, a recognition scene,
a narrow aversion of the tragic, the affirmation of the
festive in a bleak society, the closing marriage, and
much more. Reminders of Shakespeare’s comedies are
not far to seek. We even had characters who entered –
rather – than exited, “pursued by a bear”!
The mostly young cast acquitted themselves very decently.
As Myfanwy (I will use the names given to characters in
this translation) Camille Roberts was impressive, her
powerful high register beautifully controlled, both her
self- assertiveness and her loss of confidence articulated
persuasively in tone and inflection. The Joseph of Adrian
Dwyer was blessed with an attractive tone and subtlety
of phrasing, though he was occasionally a little underpowered
in some of his climaxes. The two worked well together.
Simon Wilding was an oleaginous, yet menacing, Kettle,
and Christopher Steele discovered in Victor a personality
both strangely dignified and utterly ridiculous, so that
one could be moved to both pity and laughter, as well
as to pleasure in his eventual liberation from his mother’s
control.
Act III’s many changing moods were convincingly
portrayed – from the hilarious, Wild West Circus,
rather the worse for wear in several senses, to the poignancy
of Myfanwy’s aria on her (supposed) betrayal by
Joseph. Indeed, this production brought out the emotional
complexity of the opera more interestingly than many a
‘grand’ production has been able to do.
The accomplished Keith Darlington conducted the ten-piece
orchestra with energy and judgement in an orchestral reduction
prepared by Tony Burke. Naturally there were some losses
– but the clarity of the textures enabled one to
hear the abundant dancing rhythms of Smetana’s music
with particular clarity.
This production of The Bartered Bride tours Wales and
beyond - it has already been presented at the Opera House
in Buxton and there are performances to come in Canterbury,
Colchester, Bracknell and Huddersfield, as well as at
a number of venues around Wales, until mid November. Details
can be found on the company’s website: http://www.midwalesopera.co.uk/.
I strongly urge English and Welsh readers to seek it out
– they are assured of a good evening’s theatre.
Glyn Pursglove