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| Purcell & Pountney: The Masque of Might - Andri Björn Róbertsson, Xavier Hetherington, Matthew Brook - Opera North (Photo: James Glossop) |
Purcell & David Pountney: The Masque of Might; Andri Björn Róbertsson, Anna Dennis, James Laing, James Hall, Callum Thorpe, Xavier Hetherington, Matthew Brook, director: David Pountney, conductor Harry Bicket; Opera North at the Grand Theatre, Leeds
Reviewed 21 October 2023
Told with imagination and verve, David Pountney's recreation of a 17th-century masque with a contemporary twist.
For all Purcell's iconic position, his theatre music remains relatively unexplored and certainly is rarely heard in the theatre, beyond The Fairy Queen and King Arthur, with the notable exceptions such as Peter Sellars' reworking of The Indian Queen.
After David Pountney stage The Fairy Queen without dialogue or replacement connective tissue, he thought of repeating the exercise with Purcell's other theatre music. Lockdown finally gave him the leisure time to do the research and the result is The Masque of Might, which tells a contemporary narrative in the skittish, discursive way of the 17th century masque, using a patchwork of music from Purcell, including Timon of Athens, The Indian Queen, Job's Curse, Odes for the birthday of Queen Mary (1691, 1693, 1694), Welcome song for King James II, The Tempest, The Fairy Queen, Dioclesian, Ode for St Cecilia's Day, Sul and the Witch of Endor, Why are the Muses mute and Yorkshire Feast Song.
The Masque of Might was presented by Opera North at the Grand Theatre, Leeds as part of its Green Season and we caught the Saturday matinee, 21 October 2023. Harry Bicket conducted the orchestra of opera North, with Andri Björn Róbertsson, Anna Dennis, James Laing, James Hall, Callum Thorpe, Xavier Hetherington and Matthew Brook, plus six dancers. Set designs were by Leslie Travers with costumes by Marie-Jeanne Lecca, lighting by Paule Constable and Ben Pickersgill, video by David Haneke and choreography by Denni Sayers.
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| Purcell & Pountney: The Masque of Might - Andri Björn Róbertsson - Opera North (Photo: James Glossop) |
The cast mixed generalists and specialists, whilst the orchestra consisted of the regular Opera North players alongside recorders, theorbos and harpsichords. There was a hiccup at our performance and the theorbo players were delayed in transit by the weather and after a slight delay the first half went ahead without them, Harry Bicket, assistant conductor Michael Papadopoulos and second harpsichordist Ashok Gupta having made last minute adjustments.
The plot, such as it was, concerned the rise and fall of the dictator Diktat (Callum Thorpe), whose ignoring of the environment and natural order brought him down. A story which was told with verve and imagination. Leslie Travers' sets consisted of a pair of structures used mainly as grandstands with an open stage are focusing on the video at the rear, here David Haneke mixed grandiose Versailles-style interiors with the more abstract.
We began witt the birth of Diktat, a prologue involving grandly costumed Gods (Andri Björn Róbertsson and Anna Dennis). For the remainder of the the opera costuming was less elaborate though just as vivid. Part One saw the rise of Diktat with praise from sycophants, James Laing and James Hall in comic form, and protests from climate activists, Andri Björn Róbertsson and Xavier Hetherington, who were put in prison. Andri Björn Róbertsson's character died in prison and his death was lamented by Anna Dennis' Elena.
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| Purcell & Pountney: The Masque of Might - Anna Dennis - Opera North (Photo: James Glossop) |
Part Two was longer and more diffuse. The fight against Diktat began, led by Matthew Brook's Sceptic. The forces of nature rose against Diktat and he had a strange dream encounter in a wood with two animals, James Laing and Andri Björn Róbertsson. Increasingly desperate Diktat consulted Seer (Xavier Hetherington) who presented a play to warn Diktat, using Purcell's Saul and the Witch of Endor with Anna Dennis and Matthew Brook. Diktat's powers vanished and order was restored, the celebrations featured dancers as sunflowers with bees to pollinate each other, a fun reference to 17th-century dance, and the Gods reappeared.
The second part was, perhaps, too long but the whole had an engaging verve and there was the delight of encountering familiar Purcell in a new guise, alongside the unfamiliar. Very little had been changed, a few first lines adjusted and one number got new words. When I chatted to Canadian baritone Étienne Dupuis [see my review], he was saying about stagings needing to keep the emotional truth of the music. This was true here, Pountney was using the pieces in different contexts but he remained true to the music's intent.
Everyone had their moments in the spotlight. Andri Björn Róbertsson moved from King Louis XIV style grandeur in the prologue to a climate-change activist with a powerful duet (with Xavier Hetherington) from the Welcome Song for King James II, and a profoundly moving prison scene with Hetherington and Brook using O, I'm sick of life leading to the chorus' striking rendition of Hear my prayer, O Lord. Anna Dennis brought Part One to a stunning close with an intense yet poised rendition of The Plaint from The Fairy Queen.
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| Purcell & Pountney: The Masque of Might - Callum Thorpe - Opera North (Photo: James Glossop) |
In Part Two, James Laing gave a heartfelt account of Tis nature's voice (from Ode for St Cecilia's Day) as all nature rebelled against Diktat, whilst both in Part One and at the very end of Part Two, James Laing and James Hall made an enjoyable comic double-act as two sycophants supporting Diktat, before turning against him. Xavier Hetherington popped up in myriad guises, very much a chameleon, from suave game-show host to mystic Seer, his voice vibrant yet malleable. Anna Dennis made an enjoyably scary Witch of Endor, and returned at the end in Godly guise to spread stylish radiance over all.
But running through the whole was the wondrously vivid portrayal of Diktat by Callum Thorpe. Thorpe, who we have seen at Opera North in thuggish guise before including as Spoleta in Tosca, relished the opportunities and employed a strikingly stylish and vivid turn of phrase in Purcell's music.
The chorus, employed in the large-scale numbers which mixed music and movement, were in vivid form and combined music and movement in an engaging way. The orchestra, having been on fine form in Puccini's La Rondine the previous night, proved to be equal to playing Purcell with similar style. There were plenty of instrumental interludes, and much to enjoy under Harry Bicket's deft control.
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| Purcell & Pountney: The Masque of Might - Opera North (Photo: James Glossop) |
The result was skittish and vividly engaging, a little bit crazy yet done with imagination and style. Perhaps a little over long, the whole was given with such verve and enjoyment by all concerned.
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