THE JUDGE’S WIFE
The Judge’s Wife
opera, composed by Riikka Talvite, was performed a few times in Balder Hall,
near the Senate Square in Helsinki. Balder Hall was a bit unusual venue for an
opera, a biggish room, where the performers sung and played in the middle of
the hall and spectators sat on their chairs around them. The positive thing was
that you could hear the singers well and see their facial expressions, but on
the other hand, sometimes the performers sang their back towards part of the
audience and depending on where you sat, you could not always see everything.
The first bars of the
music did not sound very promising, but fortunately the music did turn out to
be more melodic later. The performers were fabulous. Juha Uusitalo, who sang
the role of the judge, was absolutely stunning and it was great to hear him
after all his health problems. He really became the judge both vocally and
physically. Tuuli Lindeberg as the judge’s wife once again sang like an angel
and made the character very believable. Also the two other singers, Tuula
Paavola and Saara Kiiveri, did a great job in their roles.
The opera made me
think of tensions inside a family and communication and its challenges; how
easy it is to talk past someone and understand as well as want to understand
others in a wrong way – and, of course, not only in a family but everywhere in
the world. The director, Teemu Mäki, wanted to stress the theme of terrorism
and violence, and began the second act with an unfortunately long video clip of
terrorism. To me this was underestimating the audience; a lot less hammering
would have made the point clear already.
As a nice detail I can
also mention the intermission. The first act ended with a dinner, where soup
was served. The same soup was also served to the audience free of charge during
the intermission! A really great idea and the soup was also very tasty.
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| Balder Hall |
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| Video screen |
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| The soup |
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