Rugby fans weren't the only ones to have their passions indulged in Cardiff at the weekend. Opera lovers welcomed in WNO's new season, which opened with Phyllida Lloyd's staging of Poulenc's opera Dialogues des Carmelites, a co-production with ENO. A success in London earlier this year, it lived up to expectations in the intimacy of Cardiff's New Theatre, fortified by a strong cast and some sensuous playing from the orchestra under Gareth Jones.
Opera, an art form that potentially encompasses all others, has always lent itself to the depiction of tales of heroism writ large. The Carmelite nuns of the title are an unlikely band of heroines, but ultimately are memorable ones. This is partly because all but one are based on real people (nuns martyred during the French revolution), partly due to the gruesomeness of their deaths (at the guillotine, one by one), but largely because, through unfashionably listenable music for the time, Poulenc lets us see directly into their minds and spirits.
Blanche sets a theme by expressing her desire to live "a life that's heroic", and by the end of Saturday's performance even the most dubious listener must have had to admit that the nuns might have achieved it. This isn't an easy opera to stage, but Lloyd has risen to the challenge with a production that is direct, involving and atmospheric. The shape of the guillotine is always chillingly present, from the tall, severe outline of the nuns' chairs to the real thing, centre stage in the final scene.
Death looms large in this opera, even in Act I, and having one interval rather than two denied the audience the stiff drink that was needed after Elizabeth Vaughan's harrowing portrayal of the old prioress's bitter end. Vaughan is the only cast member retained from the ENO's performances, and it is hard to imagine many other singers giving the role such magnetic presence.
The focal role of Blanche (the only fictional character) was given to the creamy-toned soprano Catrin Wyn-Davies, whose wild, staring eyes and uninhibited singing made her seem unhinged and rather dangerous. There were fine performances too from Suzanne Murphy as the new prioress, Natalie Christie making an auspicious house debut as Constance, and Nicholas Sears as the chevalier. Another formidable presence, as ever, was Sally Burgess as the headstrong Mother Marie. The final glimpse of her, kneeling alone in an empty stage, was not the closing image which Poulenc specified, but was a poignant reminder that the events portrayed had not been entirely fictional - somebody had to be left behind to tell the story.
***** Unmissable
**** Recommended
*** Enjoyable
** Mediocre
* Terrible
