Purcell, King Arthur  or The British Worthy: Brighton Festival  2007  The Armonico Consort, Orchestra of the Baroque, Christopher Monks (harpsichord continuo/musical director) Theatre Royal, Brighton 17.5.2007 (DW)

Production:
Thomas Guthrie (director)
Roger Butlin (designer)
Andrew Stock (lighting designer)
Fiona Watkins (assistant director/choreographer/wardrobe)

Cast:

The Armonico Consort

Susan Gilmour Bailey (soprano)
Lorna James (soprano)
Timothy Travers-Brown (countertenor)
Mark Wilde (tenor)
Thomas Guthrie (bass)
James Frith, Lisa Whitmore, Fiona Watkins (aerialists)

Purcell’s semi-opera King Arthur was based on Dryden’s sprawling play and is probably the most integrated of the composer’s stage works in this genre, which also includes Dioclesian, The Faery Queen (presented by this company at last year’s Brighton Festival) and The Indian Queen. These semi-operas presented plays with a great deal of dialogue interspersed with musical numbers and are not ‘operas’ in the sense that we have come to accept today.

King Arthur’s original production at the Dorset Garden Theatre in London in 1691, was by contemporary accounts a lavish spectacular. The Armonico Consort’s productions are far from that. A tiny touring opera company with minimal staff, it has to design a pocket-sized production to tour around the country to be presented in small venues. Brighton’s Theatre Royal is probably one of the larger theatres in which the Consort performs and it was clear that it is used to making a few resources go a very long way.

This production, receiving its first outing on this occasion, is set in the trenches of the First World War during 1915, which might seem a million miles away from Dryden’s fantastical story of battles between ancient Saxons and Britons. Director (and singer) Thomas Guthrie explains in the informative programme booklet:-

“Merlin and Osmond, Philidel and Grimbald, sprites and magicians, are not easy to accommodate. So it was only when I was introduced to the inspired description of the experiences of a World War I battalions by the artist and poet David Jones, in his book Parenthesis, that I could see a way to honour all aspects of Purcell’s original … Jones speaks of the front as ‘place of enchantment’ and likens the soldiers to ancient Britons who fought under Arthur, and then on through the centuries.”

David Jones spent time at the Western Front himself with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers between 1915-18 and devoted most of his early and middle years to art. He published In parenthesis, his first book of poetry, in 1937 when he was 41. The replacement of Dryden’s original text with these dark texts by the Armonico Consort was a bold move. In many ways the words worked well in combination with Purcell’s lyrical numbers but the production seemed to miss conveying the horrors and ironies of First World War Flanders in a way that seemed almost tongue-in-cheek at times.

The Overture was accompanied by a gentle but impressive display by two aerialists on a trapeze several metres above the stage. A similar opening was used in last year’s Faery Queen and so seems a trademark of the Armonico Consort’s productions. The aerialists made another appearance during the second half but their relevance was never quite clear to me, as beautiful as it was. Similarly puzzling was the ill-danced ‘knees-up’ that accompanied the Chaconne which closed this curious piece of music theatre.

The singing was competent enough but only Susan Gilmour Bailey (as one of the war-hospital nurses) shone, with the gentlemen in general sounding a little (battle?) weary and over-worked in places (although Mark Wilde made an endearingly comic ‘Welsh’ soldier). The minimal set was used imaginatively enough – it even served as a bath in Act II (cue some almost-tantalising nudity from Mr Wilde), in which cigarettes were smoked and beer quaffed. The small orchestra was, sadly, very untidy and sounded like more rehearsal time was needed, especially during points where there was anything other than a strictly-held tempo. It was a pity, too, to see the timpanist chewing gum in full view throughout the first half.

This King Arthur was an enjoyable diversion and enthusiastically enough received by a capacity audience. The Armonico Consort has a busy summer ahead of it (including more King Arthurs in some prestigious venues) and so I hope some of the teething troubles are ironed out.


Derek Warby

Derek Warby is the General Manager of the European Union Youth Orchestra which has Vladimir Ashkenazy as Music Director. The  EUYO website is Here