Date: Sat, 9 Nov 1996 23:29:36 +0000 From: "H.E.Elsom" Subject: Glyndbourne Touring Theodora Dear all, I know that someone else has promised a review from the Southhampton performance of the GTO Theodora, but I haven't seen it yet, so here's mine of the performance in Oxford on 7 November, for what it's worth. (Sorry, another verbose posting, but I thought it was good in so many ways.) It's the same production as the Glyndebourne Festival earlier this year, but with completely different cast and orchestra. Sellars directed the final rehearsals (it says here). Valens Jonathan Best Didymus Christopher Robson Septimius Nigel Robson Theodora Anne Dawson Irene Susan Bickley Messenger Michael Hart Davies Glyndebourne Touring Opera Orchester and Chorus Conductor Harry Bicket Director Peter Sellars, with John Ramster and Olivia Fuchs I enjoyed the broadcast of the performance conducted by William Christie with Upshaw, Daniels, Hunt and Croft. But I must say that the live performance made much more sense to me dramatically and even musically. Some of this of course is the difference in my response when I'm in the theatre, and when I've seen the work once before. Theodora is a fascinating work which combines elements of romance and Christian martyr narrative based on the emulation of the death of Christ. The middle term is passion, and this leaves open a range of questions (within the work as well for the director and performers) about the place of anger, pain, sexuality and emotion in general. The action centres on the (chaste) lovers Theodora, a Christian princess, and Didymus, a Roman solider and secret Christian. When Valens, president of Antioch, proscribes Christianity, Theodora is arrested and threatened with rape if she doesn't renounce her religion. Didymus helps her escape and is himself condemned to death. Theodora gives herself up to save him once the threat of rape is replaced by that of death, but Valens has them both executed in a sort of double crucifixion. Didymus has a non-Christian army buddy, Septimius, to whom he tells all, and who lets him help Theodora escape and pleads for the lovers at the end. He has the function both of the hero's male admirer/military sidekick in Greek epic and romance, and of the centurion at the crucifixion of Christ and other virtuous pagans in the early Christian tradition. But he also represents moral failure, because he doesn't follow his sympathy through with committed action. Theodora has a corresponding friend in Irene, the leader of her Christian community. The chorus plays the role of both Romans and the Christian community, who parallel the Jewish people and the apostles respectively in the gospels. Musically as well as thematically, Theodora seems to me to combine elements of Ariodante and the Messiah (odd though it may seem), and also to look forward to the Bach Passions. Both Ariodante and Theodora focus on a woman suffering from unjust imprisonment and resulting sexually-based anguish. Ginevra is accused of doing it, but hasn't, Theodora is threatened with it. For both, in the world of the drama, sex outside marriage is worse than death, and for Theodora it threatens her immortal soul as well. But the characters and action, and some of the language, evoke the gospels and Christian hymns rather than a baroque love plot. Musically, there are glorious extended emotional arias, and a beautiful final duet for matched voices, but also complex dramatic choruses and Irene's commentating arias. Sellars' production uses a single set consisting of three bare white walls and a movable group of enormous Roman tear bottles, complete in outline, but cracked and missing parts like archeological objects. They serve to set the scene in antiquity and to keep the themes of death and luxury permanently in the background. Tear bottles are used in funeral rites and buried with the dead, but the same sort of bottles can also contain perfume. I found the set very beautiful. The chorus wears modern dress with a few vaguely antique looking drapes and other details. Red and blue for the Romans, black and white for the Christians. Valens wears a presidential suit. The two Roman soldiers and four supers wear a version of contemporary military combat dress. The main challenge in staging Theodora is what to do with the chorus, and Sellars' solution is famously to make them perform kabuki-like hand movements. I heard people say there was to much going on because of this, but to me it was highly effective. The movements (including some full-body more ballet-like ones for the principals) make a simple code, like a very cut down version of ASL. For example, pointing down for the Roman (chthonic) gods, arms raised and outstretched like angel wings for the uplifted soul. The movements are used througout when the words relate to the theme, which helps highlight what the themes are. Perhaps even more importantly, the movements help externalise the emotions and give the audience a way in to (particularly) the Christians' collective feelings which are by definition spiritual and outside ordinary social understanding. IMO they also help to make the production comparatively singer-proof by telling you what is supposed to be going on emotionally, even when the singers don't convey it -- thought that wasn't an issue in the performance I saw. I was particularly wondering whether the hand choreography would be as effective live as it was in the broadcast, where the editing kept it from being totally pervasive. In fact, I felt it worked even better. The choreography of the principals highlighted relationships between characters and scenes that wasn't obvious unless viewed in full on the stage. For example, the scenes between Septimius and Didymus in Act II (Didymus persuades Septimius to let him rescue Theodora) and Irene and Theodora in Act III (Irene tries to persuade Theodora not to sacrifice herself for Didymus, but fails) were staged with similar movements in different parts of the stage. One nice point was that Valens' movements, although consistent with the thematic signing of the chorus, merged smoothly into the gestures of an American president in rhetorical mode. (A number of people pointed out that he was a lot like Bill Clinton.) The programme notes explain that Sellars looks at eighteenth rhetorical gestures in his research. The other main interest of course was whether the lesser known British principals would compare with the American heavyweights from the original production. As voices, maybe not, but in most other ways, they were all superb on their own terms. Susan Bickley as Irene had great authority, though she couldn't compete with Lorraine Hunt. Anne Dawson's Theodora was a lot less cerebral than Dawn Upshaw's (not surprisingly), and expressed pain and fear more effectively, especially in Act II, where she is in fear of rape and wakes up to find Didymus in her cell. (I didn't even think "don't worry, dear, he's a castrato", as I normally would during a scene like that.) She managed to convey an attachment to life as well as spiritual rejection of the world. Christopher Robson is about as unlike David Daniels as a counter-tenor could be, and far more plausible as a Roman soldier. He was the only principal I'd heard live before, in the ENO Ariodante earlier this year, where he had some major voice problems (aka croaking). Generally, he either made a sweetish quiet sound or an harsh audible sound. However, he sang the final duet beautifully, matching Anne Dawson's voice quite remarkably. His Didymus was definitely being heroic in rejecting the flesh. Nigel Robson as Septimius was for me the standout principal performance. Septimius is really the only interesting principal. Valens is simply stupid, and the Christians struggle against the world to meet their ideals. Septimius finds conflicting values -- human sympathy and Roman duty-- within himself, and Nigel Robson expressed this superbly, pleading for Didymus and Theodora (but mainly Didymus) one minute, and executing them the next. The chorus, substantially the same as in the Festival performances, was quite incredibly expressive and committed. Peter Sellars has refused to do the production anywhere without them, but I think it will be in repertoire for the festival again next year and possibly the year after. Quite amazing. See it. Regards, Helen H.E. Elsom he@helsom.demon.co.uk http://www.helsom.demon.co.uk/ ------------------------------