★★★★

“the ensemble company of fourteen young opera singers work tirelessly well together, invested and focused throughout”

There was a lot to like about HGO’s production of The Fairy Queen, including the twelve piece on stage Baroque HGOAntiqua Orchestra led by Seb Gillot, playing Henry Purcell’s semi-opera beautifully.

The Fairy Queen is loosely based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream but in this production it is more a series of dream like Masques, without a through story line.

The five scenes are seen through the eyes’ of a photographer played by Hannah Jessop (a movement specialist, she is the only cast member who never gets to open her mouth to sing). It tells the story through her lens, her photographic fantasy of a classical Athens coming to life. Directed by Eloise Lally, the ensemble company of fourteen young opera singers work tirelessly well together, invested and focused throughout, creating lovely classical tableaux, with each performer getting their chance to shine and sing Purcell’s glorious songs.

There were some wonderful voices on show in this production and the majority of their diction exemplary, something that HGO is renowned for. Chris Murphy has a crisp base baritone and strong comedic timing; Allyn Wu has a rich voice as both Winter and Hymen; Brenhan Alleyne is a tenor to keep an eye on, as still an undergraduate; as is Daisy Livesey as Second Fairy who has a glorious soprano; and the countertenor Richard Decker sings One Charming Night with an exquisite tone – he just needs to find his light in the reflection of the stage mirror as he sings! It would be churlish not to name the whole company: Emily Gibson, Betty Makharinsky, Elspeth Piggott, Amy Kearsley, Garreth Romain, Guy Beynon, Jack Harberd, James Holt. Finally, Issy Bridgeman as Juno, gives a witty performance in act two’s wedding scene, which does get slightly out of hand in this production with a conga dance and a Baroque rendition of YMCA – which went on for too long; with several of the singers not singing out, clearly protecting their voices.

A lot of The Fairy Queen is instrumental and probably would have had a chorus line of many dancers in early productions. Here we have some lovely movement and choreography by Monica Nicolaides, who has drilled the company hard to create interesting almost Greek dancing. Few of the company can seriously dance, but that said, the choreography works very well, and is at its best with the full company up on their feet, as one. For me, dance/movement is something that truly does need to be taught early on in opera studies, so that this new generation of opera singers move better – opera stars do not just stand and sing anymore.

It was a joy to see such beautiful Baroque instruments being played by the HGOAntiqua Orchestra, particularly hearing the three long trumpets, recorders, bass violin, theorbo and harpsichord (so delicate it needed retuning during the interval). One of the highlights was the singer Betty Makharinsky singing If Love’s a Sweet Passion so majestically with oboist Katie Lewis following her round the stage, singer and oboe together – two very strong instruments on show.

To hear and see Henry Purcell’s unique seventeenth century English style in such a vibrant and, yes, charming production, just goes to show how accessible and current Purcell’s music can be.

MACHINAL at the Old Vic

★★★★

“a brave and exciting revival that mixes gritty absurdism with precision-cut stylisation and outstanding performances”

When Sophie Treadwell’s “Machinal” premiered in 1928, the New York Times was so intrigued that it reviewed the production twice – calling it ‘a triumph of individual distinction, gleaming with intangible beauty… an illuminating, measured drama such as we are not likely to see again’. The Times described it as a play that ‘in a hundred years… should still be vital and vivid’. Well – here we are, almost a hundred years later and – yes – it is still vital, vivid; and individual. Richard Jones’ revival at The Old Vic will ensure that Treadwell’s legacy will survive another century at the very least.

The play is inspired by (rather than based on) the real-life case of Ruth Snyder who was executed in the electric chair for the murder of her husband. Treadwell’s narrative gives us a fictionalised backstory in nine distinct episodes which describes the chain of events that leads an anonymous woman to her fate. We are shown the different phases of her life and the people she comes into contact with. Rosie Sheehy barely leaves the stage during her extraordinary portrayal of this ordinary woman. A woman who never finds her place. Never finds peace. Driven to eccentricity; disturbed and constrained, but essentially tender and pliable while the life around her is hard and mechanised.

It is a highly impersonal world in which the characters have no names. As a result, they don’t attract much sympathy and while we are drawn into their expressionist world, we are not invited to have any emotional involvement. It is the rhythm of the piece that keeps us going along for the ride. Jones’ direction is as stylish and stylised as the writing, although he is just one cog in the machine. Benjamin Grant’s discordant, staccato soundscape chimes with Adam Silverman’s lighting that both punctuate and underscore the narrative. Sarah Fahie is credited as movement director, but choreographer is a more apt description. Even Hyemi Shin’s mustard-tinged, claustrophobic set seems to have rehearsed its movements in time to the clockwork dialogue and the pulse of the play.

Repetition informs the action, adding to the sense of unease and entrapment our protagonist feels. She quits her humdrum job by marrying the boss – a misogynist who regards his wife as a business acquisition, yet Tim Francis brilliantly manages to find a very likeable eccentricity to an otherwise despicably outdated personality. Unfortunately, she can’t seem to just ‘quit’ her marriage, which eventually leads her to the extreme measures of murder, having bizarrely got the idea from a chance remark made by her lover (Pierro Niel-Mee). The feminist message is somewhat sabotaged along the way. And we never quite understand her detachment, nor indeed her disproportionate, sadistic treatment of her nagging, potato-obsessed mother (a wonderfully colourful and funny Buffy Davis).

Although a few of the scenes are drawn out, the pace never drags. We might not sympathise, but we enjoy the absurdity immensely. It is another world but uncomfortably like our own. Although we can see Kafkaesque influences, it is almost impossible to believe that “Machinal” was written a century ago; and we are also reminded of those that Treadwell has influenced in turn. This is a brave and exciting revival that mixes gritty absurdism with precision-cut stylisation and outstanding performances.

Category Archives: Reviews

THE FAIRY QUEEN

★★★★

Jacksons Lane

THE FAIRY QUEEN at Jacksons Lane

★★★★

“the ensemble company of fourteen young opera singers work tirelessly well together, invested and focused throughout”

THE FAIRY QUEEN at Jacksons Lane

Reviewed on 19th April 2024

by Debbie Rich

Photography by Laurent Compagnon

Previously reviewed at this venue:

THIS IS NOT A CIRCUS: 360 | ★★★★★ | October 2023

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MACHINAL

★★★★

Old Vic

MACHINAL at the Old Vic

★★★★

“a brave and exciting revival that mixes gritty absurdism with precision-cut stylisation and outstanding performances”