What an absolute gift of a role Papageno is and I am so lucky to have sung it with Kennet Opera in their recent English-language production of Mozart’s Magic Flute at the Newbury Corn Exchange. Papageno is such a colourful character: he has the best lines, a number of great arias and a fair amount of license to be a complete buffoon on stage (to be honest, I really don’t need much encouragement!). In addition, I also got to stuff my face with pork pies, beer and wine on stage! (Not real alcohol of course, but I certainly consumed industrial quantities of iced-tea!) On grounds of taste and impartiality it would be wrong of me to “review” the production – (I’ll leave that to others e.g. the Newbury Weekly News - Review) so what follows is a personal view of the production and a bit of rant about arts funding!
Stage Director Oonagh Dockley’s contemporary setting of The Magic Flute saw the “temple” of Isis and Osiris transformed into a health-spa in which Sarastro (played by the brilliant Ian Caddy) was a latter-day lifestyle guru. Tamino’s journey from couch-potato to enlightened disciple seemed to work reasonably well, particularly when juxtaposed with Papageno’s simple earthiness, but the trials of fire and water sat awkwardly within this interpretation and the links to Freemasonry were pretty much lost. There were a number of other inconsistencies too, but let’s face it, Schikaneder’s original libretto stretches belief beyond its elastic limit anyway! In honesty I would have liked to do a ‘traditional’ setting of Magic Flute (partly because I loved the iconic Magic Flute imagery in Milos Forman’s 1984 film adaptation of Peter Schaffer’s play Ámadeus – especially Papageno’s colourful plumage.). In the event, the contemporary setting provided a decent enough vehicle for the bewilderingly odd plot – and also enabled Kennet Opera to keep costume and set costs to a minimum, which is a significant consideration for any community opera company.
In fact, this was opera on a shoestring budget and all credit should be given to Kennet Opera’s hardworking committee for staging such a show at all given the paucity of funding support they receive. I understand that at least one of their grants was halved this year, and amongst other things, this meant a much reduced orchestra. The highly talented Musical Director, Ed Lambert, rearranged the orchestral score for the eight or so musicians who formed the pit orchestra. Within budgetary constraints, this arrangement worked well, but at times, I felt the ‘orchestra’ lacked the rich texture needed to convey the full grandeur of Mozart’s music and, from a performer’s point of view, there were times on stage when it was extremely difficult to hear the orchestra. On a number of occasions, this led to some disconnects between singers (self included) and orchestra - especially when the MD was playing the harpsichord part rather than conducting! The set could hardly be described as lavish either, but Set Designer (and Stage Manager), Ro Robinson, produced a minor miracle given the limited funding she had. The obvious lesson is that if you want to see quality performance and develop a vibrant arts community capable of generating attendant commercial benefits, then you have to fund the arts properly.
Although the majority of the performers were amateurs like myself, in common with many community opera groups, Kennet Opera can rightly claim a semi-professional status, engaging as it does a number of professionals. I was delighted to work alongside so many very talented and professionally-trained singers in this production and I learnt a lot from them, particularly from Ian Caddy whose extensive professional career includes performing with all of the UK’s main opera companies. Generous to a fault with his encouragement, I greatly valued his advice. Olivia Hinman (Pamina) has the most wonderfully sweet voice – perfect for Mozart – and she played the part with a lovely mixture of strength and vulnerability. I thought her Act 2 aria (“Ach, ich fühl's, es ist verschwunden”) was divine, and it was a real joy to sing the Act 1 duet ("Bei Männern welche Liebe fühlen") with her. Several people have told me they thought it was gorgeous. Ben Thapa (of X-Factor and G4 fame) played a slovenly Tamino whose love for Pamina and journey towards enlightenment gradually transformed him. Ben has a lovely voice with plenty of power and control – and he seems to produce the sound so effortlessly. I suppose the disadvantage of engaging such a busy performer is that he did not get as much preparation time with the company as the rest of us. Consequently, there were elements of Tamino’s characterization that were not as developed as they might have been. As one of the Three Ladies, Joanna Sleight was fabulous – indeed, it was a pleasure having her stand on me!!! Musically speaking, the two quintets I sang with the Three Ladies and Tamino were among the most satisfying parts of the opera for me. Irene Cassidy and Vikki Champion completed the Three Ladies line-up and all three looked suitably vampish for the contemporary setting – like something out of The Devil Wears Prada!
One of the great things about The Magic Flute is the wealth of smaller roles that can be filled from within the Company and, without exception, all the players rose to the challenge superbly well. I don’t think there’s enough space to mention everyone, but I certainly couldn’t write about the production without mentioning my lovely Papagena (Sam Spaak) whose mischievous presence on stage always signaled fun and whose consummate professionalism and excellent stage presence always put me at my ease. I think that the famous “Pa-pa-gena” duet in the finale was probably my favourite part of the whole opera.
I’m already in danger of writing an excessively long blog about The Magic Flute – there’s so much more I could say – but for me at least, it has been a wonderful experience and the folks at Kennet Opera have been incredibly supportive, friendly, sociable and welcoming. I hope that I will be successful at future auditions and sing with them again in the future!
What Kennet Opera tries to do in bringing affordable and accessible opera to the area is hugely commendable and it really deserves better support, both in terms of audience and funding. There is always the risk that even with the hard work and dedication of members and supporters, under-funded productions will lack the professional appearance that will help to build future audiences. Of course, it says a lot about how much our society values “culture”. In Germany a town the size of Newbury would probably have its own professional opera company!
www.guyedwards.info
www.kennetopera.co.uk
www.lambertmusic.co.uk
www.iancaddy.com
I look with nostalgia on stories of wealthy patrons sponsoring, even courting, musicians -and other artists - in the golden years of Renaissance and Baroque. Everything was so simple - values, perception, aesthetics were shared across Europe, rising above all other differences. I wish we could one day re-capture that cultural zenith.
It is a wonderful thing you're doing.