Andrew Cooper has already reviewed this production by Opera North of
Monteverdi's Return of Ulysses. I found it outstandingly enjoyable. It's
nice to see a bit of straightforward sex and violence, especially violence,
after the existential angst on show in London recently.

Penelope        Alice Coote
Ulysses         Nigel Robson
Ericlea         Frances McCafferty
Melanto/Love    Fiona Campbell
Eurymachus      Jeffrey Lloyd-Robers
Eumaeus         Mark Curtis
Irus            Valentin Jar
Telemachus      Nicholas Sears
Antinous/Time/Neptune
                John Hall
Amphinomous/Human Frailty
                Stephen Wallace
Peisander/Jove  Jamie MacDougall
Minerva/Fortune Therese Feighan

Conductor       Martin Pickard
Director        Annabel Arden
Designer        Tim Hatley

Translation     Ann Ridler

The programme also credits owner of the bow, and the supplier of
vermiculite on the floor....

One reviewer described this production as the Bruce Willis version. Nigel
Robson's Ulysses reminded me more of a sort of sexy Popeye the sailor man,
though maybe it comes down to the same thing in the end. (Hey, Olive
Oyl=Penelope, Swee'pea=Telemachus, Irus=Wimpy, Bluto=suitors. I think we
have something.) At any rate, this production concentrates on a
straightforward telling of a great story, and the result is terrific.

In fact, what really struck me is that this is a stonkingly good libretto
(by Badoardo, in a fine version by Ann Ridler). The action covers the whole
second half of the Odyssey, including divine machinery, from Ulysses'
arrival in Ithaca to Penelope's delayed recognition of him. Only the murder
of Melanto and the other maids is missing, and the glimpse of hell in the
last book, an allegory of Time, Fortune and Love is added at the beginning.

The allegory seemed more appropriate than usual. The theme of memory that
no longer fits reality structures the whole work, with emphasis on the
fragility of love. At the start, Ulysses fails to recognise Ithaca. At the
end, Penelope doubts that it really is Ulysses, because he's changed so
much (or revealed an aspect of his character that she's didn't see before).


The rhetorical additions, such as the suitors' appeals to love, Mars and
beauty, are also part of the drama, representing the competition between
the suitors, in which Antinous always looks likely to win. And there are no
tedious dances or revels, just dialogue and action. I won't say that
Badoardo did better than Homer, but he certainly got Homer exactly right.

Of course, the music is very beautiful, but, as with Poppaea, the content
of the drama is central, and you can't separate words and music. I hope
somebody finds Aeneas and Lavinia one day.

The cast was generally excellent.

Alice Coote was lovely as Penelope (she reminded me a bit of Juliet
Stevenson), dignified and resolved, but finally confused. Her Penelope
never quite accepted that Ulysses was home, and the beauty of the final
duet contrasted with her look of pain was very poignant.

Valentin Jar was very funny as the Pavarottoid glutton Irus.

There was an accidental semi-topical joke after the fight between Ulysses
and Irus, when Antinous says to Irus: "You have a great bite/But you cannot
fight".

I saw the final performance of Ulysses in this season, and it's not
included next season. It would be great if Opera North were to issue a
video. It would appeal to admirers of the estimable Xena.