In March this year Opera Box performed in the Alexander Theatre Benjamin Britten’s opera ”The Rape of Lucretia” and now I saw Sibelius Academy’s version of the same opera. First of all I have to say that this version clearly beat Opera Box’s version. There are still four performances left this week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday), so I really recommend you to see it, if you have time in your schedules.
The original story of the opera is happening in ancient Rome, but this version was brought to modern times. The scenes take place in a lecture hall in a European university and the story is part of a lecture in the department of sociology and politics. The modern environment fitted the story surprisingly well. Though the weird Christian babble in the end did not fit even this version, but it is a really strange appendix as such to any opera.
The story of the opera is dark (rape and suicide), but somehow the director Victoria Newlyn had managed to change the general feeling of the opera to be of light and hope. In my opinion, also Eero Erkamo and his light design contributed to this significantly. Nowadays it seems that in many operas violence is a major part of the direction and sometimes it is even added to the opera (many people in Finland remember the heated discussion about the National Opera’s version of the Troubadour this spring). However, Newlyn had in her direction decided to leave the most violent scenes outside the stage. Refreshing solution, which in no way diminished the effectiveness of the story, because the scenes leading to the events were strong and impressive (I practically chewed by nails out of tension when Tarquinius had arrived to Lucretia’s house). Excellent director work!
When you combine to the work of a high level director, good level soloists (as a whole), the evening was memorable. My favourite was Minna-Leena Lahti, who did an excellent job as the slightly dishevelled professor Christabel Flynn. Her voice was in superb condition. Henri Tikkanen had just the right amount of threat, vanity and slime in his Tarquinius (and student Max). And also the other young singers did well (Tuomas Miettola as professor Martin Copley, Rachel McIntosh in the double role of Lucretia and Mina, Irina Nuutinen as Karen/Bianca, Johanna Takalo as Sophie/Lucia, Emil Mahjneh as Nathan/Junius and Gustav Johansson as Tim/Collatinus). Sure, there were a few blips here and there, but when the big picture is so good, you don’t even want to get stuck is all the details.
The visual effect of the opera was equally successful. Sampo Pyhälä’s stage design and video projections were excellent and I also liked Sofia Pantouvaki’s costume design. The leather jackets of the men were brilliant!
In the end I have to say that in this version even Britten’s music sounded different than in Opera Box’s version in the spring. More than once during the evening I was wondering if the earlier version had had the same parts. The Sibelius Academy Orchestra with their conductor Markus Lehtinen sounded fresh and interesting.
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