Musical strengths, visual confusion & two Rakes: English Touring Opera's new production of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress

Stravinsky: The Rake's Progess - Act Three, scene one: the graveyard
Frederick Jones, Jerome Knox - English Touring Opera (Photo: © Richard Hubert Smith)

Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress: Frederick Jones/Brenton Spiteri, Nazan Fikret, Jerome Knox, Trevor Eliot Bowes, Lauren Young, director: Polly Graham, conductor Jack Sheen; English Touring Opera at Hackney Empire
Reviewed 2 March 2024

A refreshing lack of preconceived ideas but visually confusing production offset by strong musical performances including Brenton Spiteri taking over the role of Tom with aplomb part way through

English Touring Opera's Spring tour continued with the launch of Polly Graham's new production of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress at the Hackney Empire on 2 March 2024, with Jack Sheen conducting. Frederick Jones was singing Tom Rakewell, but before the performance it was announced that Jones had recently returned after illness, and after the Act One the role was sung from the side of the stage by Brenton Spiteri (who is playing Edmondo in ETO's production of Puccini's Manon). Nazan Fikret was Anne Trulove, Jerome Knox was Nick Shadow, Trevor Eliot Bowes was Father Trulove, Lauren Young was Baba, Amy J Payne was Mother Goose and Robin Bailey was Sellem. Designs were by April Dalton, lighting by Ben Ormerod and movement by Alex Gotch.

Is Stravinsky's opera (his first full-length opera) a pastiche, something new or simply Stravinsky? Much is often made of the self-consciously classical structure that Stravinsky used for the opera, but ETO's programme book quotes conductor Mark Wigglesworth as saying "it isn't neo-anything: it's pure Stravinsky, and Russian Stravinsky, the same person who wrote The Rite of Spring". I have to confess that rather too often the opera's 18th-century setting and this idea of a neo-classical work, perhaps even a pastiche, seem something of a straight-jacket for productions. Glyndebourne's iconic Hockney-designed version is wonderful but is only one approach.

Stravinsky: The Rake's Progess - Act One, scene one
Frederick Jones, Nazan Fikret, David Horton, Jerome Knox, Trevor Elliott Bowes - English Touring Opera (Photo: © Richard Hubert Smith)

Director Polly Graham (artistic director of Longborough Festival) and designer April Dalton deliberately approach the work from a different direction, which seems to have arisen from a close reading of Auden and Kallman's text. The opening scene was a May Day celebration, albeit one so over-designed that it might have been from schlock horror film, and with the Punch and Judy theatre, there seemed deliberate, if puzzling, references to Birtwistle's 1960s operas Punch and Judy and Down by the Greenwood side. Masks and animal heads were a feature here, and in later scenes in London when the ensemble were depicted as rats (again, from a close reading of the libretto). 

Dalton's set was a multi-level, stage within a stage and the whole production played with an element of theatre that was rather unresolved. Overall, Dalton's designs for set and costumes seemed to reflect Graham's somewhat scattershot approach, and visually the stage was often confused. This was a production full of ideas, but it needed rather more refining and paring back. Perhaps because they were more stripped back, the final two acts seemed to cohere better, whilst Graham's idea of having the graveyard scene as a grim echo of the opening May Day celebration made a certain sense. 

I did rather think that the stage within a stage element rather placed the young voices too far back in the theatre, rather than allowing the young voices the support they needed by placing them forward.

Frederick Jones has performed Tom Rakewell before [we saw him back in 2018 with British Youth Opera, see my review]. Here, he displayed the potential to be an engaging, highly active Tom, personable without being too dim. In the opening scenes, Jones' displayed an admirably lithe voice, along with an understandable sense of holding back. After this, Brenton Spiteri stood in with aplomb. His placement at the side of the stage meant his face was in shadow, but he sounded terrific, singing with vibrancy and a sense of line. We seemed to have been treated to samples of two fine Rakes, luxury indeed.

Stravinsky: The Rake's Progess -  Act Two, scene one
Lauren Young, Nazan Fikret, Frederick Jones - English Touring Opera (Photo: © Richard Hubert Smith)

It was Nazan Fikret's strong yet touching performance as Anne Trulove that really anchored the performance. She trod a firm, direct line through all the mayhem. Fikret brought out a sense of Anne's strength of purpose underneath her nervous manner. She sang with elegance and emotion, and always held the stage so that her appearance brought focus. The scene in Act Two where she finds Tom whilst Baba waits on the side was heart-wrenching indeed.

Jerome Knox made an engaging, chameleonic Nick Shadow, creating a character that was more amoral than evil and with a manner which reminded me of many an Oxbridge educated politician, with that slightly slimy trust-me demeanour. There was something rather seductive about him, always ready to lead Tom into another jape. This was a highly physical production, and Knox and Jones made a vivid double act. 

Lauren Young combined rich tones with humours aplomb as Baba. For some reason, Baba's sedan chair in Act Two was replaced by a life-size plaster (seeming) horse, that Young remained mounted on for much of the opera. She managed to bring out something of Baba's down to earth nature alongside the humour, and her scene with Anne Trulove in Act Three was rightly a key point in the opera.

Stravinsky: The Rake's Progess - Act One, scene two: Mother Goose's brothel
Frederick Jones, Amy J Payne, Jerome Knox - English Touring Opera (Photo: © Richard Hubert Smith)

The smaller roles were all well taken, though Stravinsky allows each just a moment. In the first scene Trevor Eliot Bowes made a firm yet fierce Father Trulove. Amy J Payne was a mysterious and rather surreal Mother Goose in a scene that seemed to be more men's wrestling club than brothel. Robin Bailey was a vivid Sellem, even managing to rock a ridiculously tall wig. Masimba Ushe, a member of the ensemble, was the keeper of the mad house.

Whilst the production might have been visually confusing and over-full of ideas, what Graham's approach did do was allow the singers to mine the emotions that underlie Stravinsky's writing and which can sometimes get hidden by the layers of pastiche. Here, Jones and Spiteri managed bring a poignant edge to Tom whilst Nazan Fikret really touched hearts as Anne and Jerome Knox made this Nick Shadow a vibrant person.

In the pit, Jack Sheen conducted with discipline and love, giving Stravinsky's score both glitter and emotion, though there were times when he rather too much gave the orchestra their head. Harpsichordist Satoko Doi-Luck was on-stage at all times, playing the harpsichord in 18th-century garb.

Stravinsky: The Rake's Progess - Act Three, scene one: the graveyard
Jerome Knox, Frederick Jones - English Touring Opera (Photo: © Richard Hubert Smith)

Polly Graham's production had a refreshing lack of pre-conceived ideas and a willingness to explore the work more fully. But the rather scattershot approach seems to need to settle in a bit more, and perhaps when Frederick Jones is returned to full vocal health it will come into better focus. But musically, the cast really displayed their strengths.

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