SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

SEEN AND HEARD UK OPERA REVIEW


 

Edinburgh International Festival 2010 (14) - Brett Dean, Bliss: Soloists, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Opera Australia. Conductor: Elgar Howarth. Edinburgh Festival Theatre,  2.9.2010 (SRT)

Cast:
Harry Joy – Peter Coleman Wright

Betty Joy – Merlyn Quaife

Honey B – Lorina Gore

Alex Duval – Barry Ryan

David – David Corcoran

Lucy – Taryn Fiebig

Johnny Davis – Kanen Breen

Libretto – Amanda Holden

Director – Neil Armfield

 

Brett Dean’s Bliss caused quite a stir when it was premiered in Sydney in March this year. Festival Director, Jonathan Mills, delivered a coup to his fellow Aussie by offering him the work’s European premiere at this year’s EIF and it has certainly been one of the big talking points of this year’s Festival. The opera is based on Peter Carey’s first novel and charts the story of successful advertising executive Harry Joy, who suffers a heart attack at a party to celebrate twenty years in the business. When he wakes up he finds himself living in a dystopian version of hell where his wife is having an affair with his colleague, his daughter gives his son sexual favours in return for drugs, and modern life seems like a grotesque vision from Dante.

So is Harry in hell or is he simply seeing his old life through new eyes? The work is a black comedy and an at times thrilling satire on modern life, from the callous, driven world of the boardroom to the objectification of human relationships. The inmates of the asylum where Harry’s family have him committed sing of themselves as “the garbage of the modern age”, and the whole work has an underlying pulse of zany energy that suggests time out of joint and events spinning out of control, most obviously in a cafe scene where Harry is surrounded by circus performers; a circus elephant later sits on his car.

If the work gives a reckless two-fingers to modern life then the music does so too, but with subtlety and tact. Dean’s finest gift is as an orchestrator. He really knows how to use his instruments, and the programme note makes a good deal of tracing this back to his time as a viola player in the Berlin Philharmonic. He is a master colourist, almost in the Straussian mould. I loved the depiction of Harry’s descent into hell with the dark bubbling of the bass clarinet when he wakes up in the hospital bed, or the muted trombone glissandi representing the other voice in a telephone conversation. The perpetual motion pulse of the crowd scenes lends itself really well to the feeling of things spinning out of control, but the intimacy of the dialogues is at times very touching, such as when Harry first begins to realise that his family have turned on him or, most movingly, when he first hooks up with call-girl Honey B and they both find an unlooked for emotional connection with one another. The final scene, where Harry escapes to the Bush with Honey and starts a new life, looks very moving but there is an underlying edginess to the music which, to me, suggests that Harry’s new state of bliss is not all it is cracked up to be.

Peter Coleman Wright’s portrayal of the central figure is masterly. He acts and sings with strength and dignity, adding a touch of grandeur to the sufferings of an everyman. The two women were both excellent in different ways. Lorina Gore as Honey B evokes humanity and love in this tart-with-a-heart, and her crystal clear coloratura is thrilling. Merlyn Quaife as Harry’s wife is also very strong at the top of her register but she acts with more convincing black humour and one of the highlights of the work is when she lights a can of petrol and immolates herself and the entire board of directors. I loved Barry Ryan as Harry’s colleague, Alex, bluff and convincing with excellent diction, and there was a set of expertly drawn cameos, not least Shane Lowrencev as the irritating hospital chaplain, Reverend Des, and the crazy policeman who disbelieves Harry’s story about how his car got into such a bad shape.

In some ways the real star of the show was the set. The box set was studded with LED screens which change to evoke every scene, from the banner at the party to the blip of Harry’s heart monitor and the skyline from his hotel room. It is remarkably successful. Interestingly, there is to be a new production of Bliss in just a few weeks in Hamburg under the baton of Simone Young who was behind the original commission. It will be fascinating to see how a different staging works there.

So for me Bliss was exciting, challenging and for the most part very entertaining. If I am not quite so effusive as others have been it is because at times it felt unnecessarily long. The first act, in particular, could lose about 15 minutes and would not suffer from it. On the whole, though, it is great to see a contemporary work not just getting such good press but proving itself on its own terms too.

Simon Thompson

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