Five stars
The drama was not all on the stage at the opening night of Scottish Opera's new production of Leos Janacek's first operatic masterpiece, although there was eventually plenty of that. Curtain-up was delayed for 45 minutes after a patron fell on the precipitous stairs of the theatre's balcony seating and had to be treated by paramedics before being taken to an ambulance. Those who chose to accept general director Alex Reedijk's offer of tickets for another night rather than risk missing transport home should be sure to take it up: this is a show not to miss.
Director Annilese Miskimmon, in her mainstage debut for the company and a co-production with Danish National Opera where she is artistic director, has chosen to shift the story to her native Ireland at the time of the First World War. It is a bold stroke that not only gives a particular historical slant to the threat of conscription faced by Jenufa's lover Steva at the opening of the opera, but also gives the importance of their doomed child's reported baptism and other specific religious references in the libretto a particular rural Catholic context that will be easily understood by modern British audiences.
There is something of the contemporary soap opera in the story Janacek used from Gabriela Preissova's realist drama, with a love triangle, warring brothers and a martinet of a stepmum added to the grim fate of the infant, but that is not to belittle the searing power of the piece rather than to emphasise its domesticity. Jenufa is an exploration of grief on a scale that Wagner, for example, was too grand to contemplate, and it requires quality acting performances to match. That is exactly what Miskimmon has found in this cast, in an interpretation that gives the men, who are the obvious villains in a tale that no-one emerges from well, moments of redemption to balance their foolishness. Jealous Laca, who scars Jenufa in the certain knowledge that her disfigurement will discourage Steva, is given a very sympathetic portrayal by Peter Wedd (Pedro in the recent revival of Ines de Castro) from the start, while the fickle laddish Steva (Sam Furness) shows some tenderness during the rollercoaster second act. But it is in that central section that the two central characters, Jenufa and The Kostelnicka, reach the pinnacle of a story of three generations of women. Lee Bissett is a captivating Jenufa, stoic in her victimhood, and Kathryn Harries is a powerhouse as her stepmother. Carefully measured vocal performances match the detailed characterisation, meticulous design (Nicky Shaw) and thoughtful blocking (with choreography by the ever-present Kally Lloyd-Jones).
On the first night, things were not entirely flawless after the postponed start, with a hesitant curtain at the end of Act Two, and occasional rough edges in the orchestral playing which generally served the lovely music very well indeed, under the baton of Stuart Stratford. And while Furness is well-cast, his voice lacks the power of those around him. But these are small quibbles in a production of the first rank. I am not sure if this is privileged information, but I understand that Bisset is herself pregnant, which makes her performance in this harrowing tale all the more remarkable. Go see, but take a hanky.
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