Welsh National Opera Carmen Review
Bizet’s ‘Carmen’
Welsh National Opera
New Theatre, Oxford
15-16 October 2014
Reviewed by Bob Jiggins
When Bizet’s opera ‘Carmen’ was first staged in 1875 the Parisian middle classes were scandalised – the reviewers using such phrases as ‘females vomited from hell’ and ‘degradation of society’. This depiction of a vibrant working class community struggling with issues of crime, sexuality, gender relations, duty and honour is just as relevant today as it was over a hundred years ago. Were the same plot to be turned into a modern TV film doubtless certain middle-brow tabloid newspapers today would also regard it as an indictment of a broken society. From the sexual teasing of the cigarette workers (armed with a battalion of e-cigarettes), through the street-corner society of children smoking to Carmen’s rampant Roma sexuality it displays the kind of vivacity that would make some ‘respectable’ citizens recoil in horror. In this darkly atmospheric revival production (part of WNO’s ‘Liberty or Death’ season) neither Carmen or Don José are bad people – instead they are struggling with very real human issues in a deeply patriarchal society and find themselves propelled into the horror of an abusive relationship that ends predictably in death.
The central thrust of the story relies on that age-old theme of the tendency of men to think with their genitalia rather than their brains – and Gwyn Hughes Jones as the luckless Don José makes an excellent fist of a man doing just that – being torn between duty, honour and rampant desire. He moves entirely convincingly from a decent, if weak, man seeking to live an honourable life as a soldier to unhinged and controlling sexual jealousy and finally to murder of Carmen – for if he can’t have her no man can. The American mezzo-soprano Kirstin Chávez as Carmen is equally superb – her vocal and acting ability in a rampantly sensual yet teasingly comic performance is such that it is difficult to see how any man could resist the lure of social and sexual liberty in such a woman. Together they make wonderfully tragic lovers.
Jessica Muirhead as Micaëla, the virtuous girl from Don José’s home village (and who wishes to marry him) is similarly wonderful – her heartfelt vocal performance tugs at both Don José’s (and the audience’s) conscience. Her sensuality is clearly present, but hidden beneath the surface unlike the openness of Carmen. Don José, predictably, chooses the latter over the safe choice that his ailing mother recommends.
Other honourable mentions include Huw Llywelyn and Michael Clifton-Thompson as the two likeable rogues Remendado and Dancaïre – whose smuggling gang Don José joins, abandoning his honour as a soldier to be with Carmen. Similarly Emma Carrington as Mercédès and Samantha Hay as Frasquita sing convincingly as Roma girls delighting in the freedom of life on the road.
Mention too must be made of the set design and lighting – a minimalistic touring set that nevertheless manages to convincingly convey smoky Seville bars and working class streets and an atmospheric mountain smuggler’s camp.
If you’re new to opera there could not be a better introduction to the genre – as WNO say in their programme ‘good opera… stays with you, gets into your psyche, makes you ask questions about yourself or challenges your preconceptions’ – see it and weep!
Rating: 4/5
Carmen is a part of WNO’s ‘Liberty or Death’ season that also includes Rossini’s ‘William Tell and ‘Moses in Egypt’. Ticket prices £17.90 to £58.90. On tour until 27th November. Sung in French with surtitles. Cast list (especially for the lead roles of Carmen and Don José) varies depending on the date. See www.wno.org.uk/event/carmen.
New Theatre Oxford, George Street, Oxford, OX1 2AG | 0844 871 3020
