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Director
Robert Carsen
Designs
Tobias Hoheisel
Lighting
Robert Carsen
Peter van Praet
Choreography
Philippe
Giraudeau
Performers
Conductor
Ivor Bolton
Iphigénie
Susan Graham
Oreste
Simon Keenlyside
Pylade
Paul Groves
Thoas
Clive Bayley
First
Priestess
Gail Pearson
Second
Priestess
Claire Wild
Diana
Cécile
van de Sant
Scythian
Jacques Imbrailo
Servant
Krzysztof
Szumanski
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Royal
Opera House
Covent Garden
10 - 29 September 2007
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A better
name for this uncompromising
version of Gluck's Iphigenie
en Tauride
might be Iphigenie In Torture.
Robert Carsen's take on this
Greek tragedy is dark and
somber indeed. The protagonist,
Iphigenie, is plagued by anger,
guilt, confusion and nightmares;
and all this torment within
her psyche is given material
expression in Tobias Hoheisel's
design: in the looming concrete
walls surrounding her, and
the dark shadows they cast
over the stage. Her band of
fellow priestesses serve to
heighten the sense of her
unease, at times writhing
around her bearing swords;
at other times, bringing to
life her visions of agony
and death.
Iphigenie is a woman born
out of betrayal, revenge and
secrecy. ÝHaving once been
chosen by her father Agamemnon
to be sacrificed to the Goddess
Diane, who in turn secretly
saved her, Iphigenie now serves
Diane as a priestess on the
island of Tauris. ÝOvercome
by anger at the apparent death
of her daughter, Clytemnestre
murders her husband Agamemnon;ÝIphigenie's
brother Oreste then kills
his mother to avenge his father;
the cycle of tragedy is profound.
By the time the curtain rises,
Agamemnon and Clytemnestra
are both dead and Oreste has
gone into exile, fleeing the
vengeance of the Furies for
his terrible crime of matricide.
He and his boon companion
Pylade find themselves stranded
on the shore of the Scythian
stronghold of Tauris, where
his sister Iphigénie
has been coerced by the local
monarch into going into the
human sacrifice game - Thoas,
King of Tauris, is conviced
he will meet his death at
the hands of a stranger and
he has therefore decreed that
Iphigenie sacrifice any stranger
who appears.
This opera has not been staged
at Covent Garden since 1973,
and it's return in this gloomy
manifestation has been met
with mixed feelings. It is
a demanding work; the voicing
of the text makes deep calls
on the passion and vigour
of the cast. But the voices
succeed: they are as glittering
lights in the dark; and in
spite of the heavy, relentlessly
black setting, the singing
conquers. American mezzo-soprano
Susan Graham, as Iphigenie,
well conveys the suffering
of one ruined by melancholy
and depair. ÝShe is a veteran
of this production's previous
incarnations and her authority
is a given, especially in
the exceptional lamenting
aria that closes Act II.
Simon Keenlyside's performance
as Oreste is strong and full
of powerful foreboding, as
is Paul Groves' interpretation
of Pylade. They fill their
scenes with emotion and subtly
hint at the homoerotic relationship
that Gluck's music invites
us to guess.
Barbaric King Thoas, performed
by Clive Bayley, is a raging,
hateful and yet frightened
villain - defied in the end
when Iphigenie and her brother
are reunited at the brink
of his sacrifice.
Under Ivor Bolton's baton
the Orchestra of the Age of
Enlightenment is spirited
and exact. They support a
grand telling of this great
tale, revealing in the music
as in the drama itself deep
psychological riches.
Florence
Mackenzie |
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