As chilling and emotional as ever: Kate Lindsey returns as Offred in ENO's strong revival of Poul Ruders' The Handmaid's Tale

Poul Ruders: The Handmaid's Tale - Kate Lindsey, John Findon (film) - English National Opera 2024 (Photo: Zoe Martin)

Poul Ruders & Paul Bentley: The Handmaid's Tale; Kate Lindsey, Juliet Stevenson, Rachel Nicholls, Nadine Benjamin, Rhian Lois, Avery Amereau, James Creswell, Madeleine Shaw, Zwakele Tshabalala, Eleanor Dennis, director Annilese Miskimmon/James Hurley, conductor Joana Carneiro; English National Opera at the London Coliseum
Reviewed 1 February 2024

As chilling as ever; Kate Lindsey's emotional rollercoaster performance as Offred anchors a strong revival of Poul Ruders' opera

English National Opera's 2022 production of Poul Ruders' The Handmaid's Tale [see my original review] was cut short due to COVID-related problems so that it is good news that Annilese Miskimmon's production returned to the London Coliseum on 1 February 2024 (revived by James Hurley) for five performances with Kate Lindsey returning to the role of Offred and Joana Carneiro back in the pit. 

Juliet Stevenson was Professor Pieixoto, John Findon was Luke, Susan Bickley was Offred's mother, Rachel Nicholls was Aunt Lydia, Nadine Benjamin was Moira, Rhian Lois was Janine/Ofwarren, Avery Amereau was Serena Joy, James Creswell was The Commander, Madeleine Shaw was Rita, Zwakele Tshabalala was Nick and Eleanor Dennis as Ofglen.

Mskimmon's production is as effective as ever, with Annemarie Woods' stripped down designs placing a firm focus on the individual characters. The ensemble scenes, however, play a significant role in creating a sense of the chilling Gilead Republic though Ruders' hymn-inspired music here is effective rather than memorable. An exception to this is, however, is the demented coloratura for Aunt Lydia, here glitteringly rendered by a scarily implacable Rachel Nicholls.

Poul Ruders: The Handmaid's Tale - Juliet Stevenson - English National Opera 2024 (Photo: Zoe Martin)

Anchoring the whole thing, however, was Kate Lindsey as Offred; thanks to some clever staging and use of film, playing both Offreds past and present. It was Lindsey's monologues in her room, taking us on Offred's emotional journey, that really drew us in an gave an emotional heart to what, otherwise, could be a chilling and sober tale. Lindsey was mesmerising in the way she was able to draw us in, just her and the orchestra, a consummate an powerfully involving performance. So much so, that at the end when we do not learn Offred's ultimate fate, it really mattered to us emotionally.

There is a lot of tale to tell, however, and returning to the opera after a gap of two years, I still think that the expository first act could be tightened up with the story focusing on people more than the rituals of Gilead. It helped that the smaller roles were so vividly taken. Neither Moira nor Janine/Ofwarren have that much air time, but Nadine Benjamin's radiant and feisty performance as Moira and Rhian Lois' intense account of Janine's mental unravelling really drew us in. Frankly, I rather wanted more of them.

Similarly, James Cresswell and Avery Amereau as the Commander (the Fred in Offred) and his wife Serena Joy managed to sketch in the characters in a way that by the end of the opera we were aware that they were trapped almost as much as Offred was.

Poul Ruders: The Handmaid's Tale - Nadine Benjamin - English National Opera 2024 (Photo: Zoe Martin)

Eleanor Dennis gave a real sense of character to the dissident Ofglen, whilst the other smaller roles were superbly etched with Madeleine Shaw as Rita, the housekeeper, Zwakele Tshabalala as Nick, the driver, a woefully underused Susan Bickley as Offred's Mother and John Findon as Luke, Offred's husband. A big mention here to the poignant, and incredibly poised, performance from Elspeth McDonald as Luke and Offred's daughter (doubling with Francesca Ditchburn). 

More 'blink and you miss them' roles, important in the ensemble but without much time in the spotlight, were Annabella-Vesela Ellis as New Offglen, Alan Oke as the Doctor, Helen Johnson as Moira's aunt, Lydia Marchione as Warren's wife, plus Adam Sullivan, Ronald Naire, Robert Winslade Anderson, Lixin Liu, Amy Kerenza Sedgwick and Sophie Goldrick.

Juliet Stevenson was poised and rather moving as Professor Pieixoto, her poignant final envoi to Offred (whose fate remained unknown) emphasising the problem with transporting Margaret Attwood's novel to other genres (opera, television series); Attwood's prose is so wonderful and so luminous, it hardly need amplification in another medium. However Poul Ruders and librettist Paul Bentley make and admirable job of it and by the end of the opera we were indeed transported.

Poul Ruders: The Handmaid's Tale - Rachel Nicholls, Rhian Lois - English National Opera 2024 (Photo: Zoe Martin)

In the pit, Joana Carneiro drew a terrific performance from the ENO orchestra. The orchestra is effectively an extra character in the opera and large chunks of Act One, in particular, veer towards the contemporary style of opera which is almost recited play with orchestra. Here, the orchestra's performance made it really worthwhile.

There was a fin de siècle air to this performance. It nearly didn't happen at all because the ENO chorus and orchestra rightly threatened strike action in the face of the draconian cuts (and I hope that the much touted agreement is adequate), whilst the whole season has a last ever feel to it as we look forward to a vastly changed ENO.

It was brave and heartening for ENO to schedule a contemporary opera as part of the season, but though the libretto is in English, The Handmaid's Tale is a 20-something-year-old opera by a Danish composer and it would seem a shame that ENO could not have joined forces with either Opera Holland Park or Scottish Opera to offer performances of the two new Jonathan Dove operas, Itch or Marx in London.

Poul Ruders: The Handmaid's Tale - Elspeth McDonald, Kate Lindsey - English National Opera 2024 (Photo: Zoe Martin)

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