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Based on Alain Robbe-Grillet’s novel “Jealousy” (“La Jalousie”)
Composer/director: Edward Jessen
Producer: Emily Granozio/Decipherer Arts Projects
Soprano: Anna Pych
Phaedra Ensemble: Darius Thompson, Paloma Deike, Sergio Serra, Eliza McCarthy
Performed at the Arcola Theatre, London, as part of the Grimeborn Opera Festival
Also performed at Arnolfini Arts, Bristol, November 16
Running time: 70 minutes
In 1957 Alain Robbe-Grillet reinvented the novel with an almost abstract, almost plot-less narrative and a central character named only as A…
Now – the only time in Robbe-Grillet’s continuous present – composer Edward Jessen has reinvented opera with “an experimental sonic theatre work” and a lone soprano (A…) singing words whose meaning we can only guess at.
Drawing on the central conceit of “La Jalousie”, which means Venetian blind as well as jealousy in the original French, a screen separates the action from the musicians and clues to what we are witnessing are projected onto it.
While clocks repeatedly appear with the time always set to “now”, we are transported to the 1950s by an American voice-over and advertising that presents an implausible world of perfect homes and consumerism, counterbalancing the atmosphere of a plantation, perhaps in a remote French overseas territory, where banana plants grow and cicadas buzz.
As the soprano, Anna Pych is a haunting tragic heroine, trapped in the obsession of the nameless narrator, who repeatedly turns over seemingly unimportant details – crumpled serviettes, creases in bedsheets – that accumulate ineluctably.
Eventually, the words “wake up” are spoken, of course repeatedly. They could mark the end of a nightmare, but instead the trance continues, and the only obvious satisfaction is the harmonic richness of Jessen’s music and Pych’s mellifluous control.
As was the case for Robbe-Grillet’s ground-breaking novel, such brave innovation is likely to attract more critical acclaim than commercial success.
For a greater chance of the latter, this year’s Grimeborn Opera Festival concludes with “La Traviata”, playing from September 24-28.
Plantation A…
Based on Alain Robbe-Grillet’s novel “Jealousy” (“La Jalousie”)
Composer/director: Edward Jessen
Producer: Emily Granozio/Decipherer Arts Projects
Soprano: Anna Pych
Phaedra Ensemble: Darius Thompson, Paloma Deike, Sergio Serra, Eliza McCarthy
Performed at the Arcola Theatre, London, as part of the Grimeborn Opera Festival
Also performed at Arnolfini Arts, Bristol, November 16
Running time: 70 minutes
In 1957 Alain Robbe-Grillet reinvented the novel with an almost abstract, almost plot-less narrative and a central character named only as A…
Now – the only time in Robbe-Grillet’s continuous present – composer Edward Jessen has reinvented opera with “an experimental sonic theatre work” and a lone soprano (A…) singing words whose meaning we can only guess at.
Drawing on the central conceit of “La Jalousie”, which means Venetian blind as well as jealousy in the original French, a screen separates the action from the musicians and clues to what we are witnessing are projected onto it.
While clocks repeatedly appear with the time always set to “now”, we are transported to the 1950s by an American voice-over and advertising that presents an implausible world of perfect homes and consumerism, counterbalancing the atmosphere of a plantation, perhaps in a remote French overseas territory, where banana plants grow and cicadas buzz.
As the soprano, Anna Pych is a haunting tragic heroine, trapped in the obsession of the nameless narrator, who repeatedly turns over seemingly unimportant details – crumpled serviettes, creases in bedsheets – that accumulate ineluctably.
Eventually, the words “wake up” are spoken, of course repeatedly. They could mark the end of a nightmare, but instead the trance continues, and the only obvious satisfaction is the harmonic richness of Jessen’s music and Pych’s mellifluous control.
As was the case for Robbe-Grillet’s ground-breaking novel, such brave innovation is likely to attract more critical acclaim than commercial success.
For a greater chance of the latter, this year’s Grimeborn Opera Festival concludes with “La Traviata”, playing from September 24-28.
Barbara Lewis © 2024.
By Barbara Lewis • music, opera, theatre, year 2024 • Tags: Barbara Lewis, music, opera, theatre