The Gambler, Royal Opera, February 2010

Royal Opera photo: Clive Barda

This is a cold story of intrigue, and obsessive gambling at the roulette tables. In the last two productions I’ve seen, in Chicago and St. Petersburg, the stage has been darkly lit, in keeping with the coldness and scheming inherent in the story, but this production by Richard Jones, with set designs by Antony McDonald and costumes by Nicky Gillibrand, is quite different. It is bright and colourful, starting with a scene in a zoo where well-dressed visitors look into the cages, which are presumably metaphors for the fact that the characters are trapped by their determination to acquire money or love that is cruelly taken away from them.

The story is based on a novel by Dostoevsky, and the main character is a young man named Alexey, tutor to the family of an impecunious general, who expects great things from his wealthy aunt Babulenka. Alexey is in love with the general’s ward Paulina, and gambles on her behalf. At first he loses badly but later he wins big-time, yet she has been having an affair with a marquis and coldly leaves him. In the meantime, Babulenka, who is supposed to be near death’s door, turns up unexpectedly at the gambling spa, and gaily gambles away all her money. The general goes crazy, and loses his demimonde lover Blanche.

John Tomlinson was superb as the general, Angela Denoke excellent as Paulina, and Susan Bickley gave a brilliant performance as Babulenka. Roberto Sacca was convincingly impetuous as Alexey, Kurt Streit cool and imposing as the marquis, and Jurgita Adamonyte suitably flashy and vapid as Blanche. The singers — and there is a huge cast — all did well, but the applause was muted. It’s not a popular opera and this production never quite brought it to life — we never really felt sympathy for any of the characters. Perhaps that was the idea, but I find it hard to drum up much enthusiasm for things that are very cold in very bright surroundings. The other two productions I have seen were more effective in their sombre tones and lack of the extraneous devices that we had here.

Antonio Pappano conducted Prokofiev’s music well, and as music director he presumably wanted to take on this project. I support the Royal Opera’s decision to put this on, but there are plenty more Russian operas worth doing that would be more exciting and satisfying — Tchaikovsky’s Mazeppa for instance, or a revival of Prokofiev’s Fiery Angel. Let us hope they have plans for such things.

Ariadne auf Naxos, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Feb 2009

When this started, silently, with dancers in practice togs marking steps on stage, I thought it might be another disaster, like Salome the night before. But then an orchestra came in, and by the end I was in tears. Fortunately the applause went on for ages, allowing plenty of time to recover and cheer.

This imaginative and coherent production by Robert Carsen sets the opera in modern times, complete with a mobile phone at one point, and it’s the only time I’ve seen the richest man in Vienna actually appear on stage. He enters with the Major Domo and they take tea, watching the dancers practicing. When the Major Domo finally speaks he is the impresario ordering the entertainments to take place as he and his master desire, and things take on a very realistic feel. It gradually builds until Zerbinetta, gloriously sung and acted by Jane Archibald, charms the composer, beautifully portrayed by Ruxandra Donose, persuading her to go ahead with the farce that’s been ordered. This dialogue took place against a black backdrop at a 45 degree angle, with lighting from below focusing on the characters, and it provided a very effective turning point to events. After it was over the composer came into the auditorium, made her way along the front row, handed a copy of the score to the conductor, and went to the corner of the stage to follow events. A spot stayed on her for the rest of the performance.

With no interval, the second part went straight ahead. The performers were in black, except for some funny nonsense with wigs, masks, and changing clothes by Zerbinatta’s followers, and the dancers from the silent prologue reappeared in several ways, with the men doing a charming number with Zerbinetta. At one point she appeared in the auditorium and went to hug the composer, cementing the rapport they’d found at the end of the first part. Finally Ariadne and Bacchus sang in front of a completely white background, Zerbinetta crossed the stage with her final comments, the curtain fell, and as the last notes came out of the orchestra, the composer reopened the curtains to enter a completely blank stage. The audience were so stunned that the applause took a while to start. As soon as it did, the dancers came on to lift the composer and carry her forward to celebrate the success of her composition.

Ariadne was well sung by Violeta Urmana, Bacchus by Roberto Sacca, and I found Matthias Bundshuh particularly good as the Major Domo. The orchestra played with clarity and emotion under the excellent baton of Jacques Lacombe. This was a great performance of Ariadne.