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Last night Ben, Rachel and I went to see the English National Opera production of Margaret Attwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale.

[PS. I just noticed you can get the Opera on CD from amazon UK.]

It was at the London Coliseum - not a theatre I have been to before. Its a bizarre sight - obviously built at the height of Victorian obsession with the Romans, it is covered in faux-marble, with friezes of roman chariots and two enormous statues of horse drawn chariots at the top corners of the proscenium arch.

I love this about London - there are things here that no-one in their right mind would propose building now (save maybe in Las Vegas) - Nelson’s column, the Victoria and Albert museum, the Albert Hall, St Paul’s, the underground, even in more recent times the London Eye and the Millenium Dome. They are all insane ideas - follies in their own way. But here they somehow get built, and weave they way into the soul of this amazing place.

So back to the opera.

I had spent the night before finishing the book, and this was just as well, as there were no surtitles, and despite the fact that the opera was sung in english, some of it was very hard to follow.

But with the story fresh in my mind I had no problems with the complex plot. The libretto follows the book very closely - in fact Ben and I could only think of a couple of minor plot points that were glossed over. This is quite an achievement for such an involved plot, and while I’m normally wary of slavish interpretations of books (vis the Harry Potter films) I think this one succeeds.

As the programme points out, the book is a dream for designers, with colour being a key distinguishing point for the different roles in society. So the handmaids wear red, the wives blue, the commanders black, all as per the book. Having said that, there were obviously some reservations with this in the director’s mind, since quite often in early scenes Offred whips off her red hood as if to prove that she is a woman underneath.

There is some interesting staging - the plot (as in the book) jumps back and forward as the narrator randomly recounts parts of her story, achieved by having the characters from the ‘time before’ perform around the frozen actors of the ‘present’. This works espescially well when Offred’s past self interacts with her, including the singing of a duet (appropriately enough in unison).

I would love to know how the opera would work for someone who did not know the book. It is a harrowing and affecting tale, and the second half is strong and confronting, with no characters (even those obviously ‘bad’) having a monopoly on virtue. Even the women in the play are complicit in their own afliction - Offred herself says near the end ‘Come and fill me Lord - I will be your empty vessel’. I would like to see this without knowing what was to come.

The music is frenetic, and quite angular, and with such a large number of female roles (only 3 men sing) the vocal texture is very soprano heavy. At times the school in the first act seems like a screeching match. I don’t mean this as a criticism though - clearly one of the key themes of the opera is the (dare I say it) hysteria of faith in this kind of theocracy.

After the Opera we went to Gaby’s on Charing Cross Road, an excellent lebanese restaurant, where I had a great salt-beef sandwich before we saw Rachel off at the station and headed off home.

Next up is a night dedicated to the works of Edward Gorey - ‘Gorey End’ starring the Tiger Lillies (of Shockheaded Peter fame) and Kronos Quartet (of just being the greatest contemporary string quartet in the world for the last 20 years fame).

I have no idea what the night will entail, but I know that it will be worth it.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 3rd, 2003 at 7:53 pm and is filed under life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.