La traviata
English National Opera
This first revival of Peter Konwitschny La traviata by Verdi is as hard and skinny as the first time round. This is intellectual opera all pared down and hollowed out, it’s been boned and all the fat cut out, even – curiously enough – any mention of Violetta being a sex worker, which makes some of the story difficult to grasp. Giving a daughter to Germont just further muddles the motives of Violettas rejection of her declared love and it would have been better to use the word ‘whore’ and have it done with. Director Konwitschny has taken much out in his pursuit of realism but it leaves this rather sharp and angled story less natural.
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The set is an endless succession of huge curtains allowing us to both see and not see what is happening, they are suggestive of both the performance space itself and Violettas life being one long series of performances until the literal final curtain of her death. This is obvious but also powerfully simple. The lack of any other real furniture or set just highlights the feeling of the unseen life beyond this curtained off space. This Spartan look throws every nuance of the music and singing into focus it also suggests that we – the audience – are part of that decadent world condemning Violetta and enjoying her downfall.
Lighting Designer Joachim Klein works with delicate compassion to support the narrative flow whilst keeping the dramatic bursts in balance.
Violetta’s character is the only one in the entire opera who acts with any humility, humanity and honesty and removing these vital indications of her scandal and place in society is a cut too far for me, it made it more difficult to understand her fall and the motives of those around her. They are an ugly, rough, crude bunch and the misogamist and objectifying attitudes towards women are kept to the fore in this production.
It’s performed with direct power and an untreated piece of emotional theatre, all the focus on the music and voices, although the ENO chorus do a good job – as always – of providing both some light relief and terrifying grotesques.
Roland Boer’s conducting is firm, vibrant and keeps the lyrical narrative bowling along and the lack of an interval provides a compelling drive towards its monumentally sad conclusion.
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Elizabth Zharoff is superb, filling each nuance with the brilliant colour and shades of voice required by Verdi and she delivers those high notes with conviction and brilliance.
Lyric tenor Ben Johnson’s geeky shy Alfredo is impressive and has grown in projection and tenderness, although I (still) don’t understand why Violetta would fancy such a bookish frump.
Anthony Michaels-Moore’s reprise of his original Germont is forceful and blunt bringing out the mean and bullying manipulation edges just right.
The chorus were on great form and do a lot of rushing around the stage, ending up slumped in despair and tangled in ripped down curtains and slowly dragging themselves towards the wings, a great end for them although it did remind me of the final scene of the Rocky Horror Show, a giggle may have escaped my lips.
This is harsh opera taking a well-loved classic and carving off the accumulated fat and folds, reflecting and reviewing it to give it new life, teasing out the themes and subtext and pressing home the beauty of the music. It’s not the most charming or romantic production of La traviata I’ve seen, none of the love scenes were convincing, but it was certainly the most arresting one.
I was totally absorbed by its headlong rush into tragedy and the singing and music was of astonishing quality. Oh and it’s the shortest La traviata as there’s no interval, which ain’t so bad when you’re dealing with Verdi.
Overall a musical triumph, with a confusing narrative, but a rich lush evening none the less.
The performance runs for one hour and fifty minutes without an interval.
Until March 13
February 13, 17 20, 24 & 27 then March 5, 11 and 15 at 7.30pm
Sung in English, with lyrics projected above the stage
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English National Opera
London Coliseum
St Martins Lane
London, WC2N 4ES