The Royal Opera - The Royal Opera House
Beethoven's only opera, powerful and meaningful. The darkness of oppression and power of devotion is captured in this stunning, bright opera.
The this opera written by Beethoven embodies some hard themes of imprisonment, oppression and love/devotion. Considering the opera was written in 1805 the story is very forward thinking for the time it was written. Fidelio is taken under the wing of the prison director Rocco and his daughter Marzelline falls head over heels for Fidelio. However, Fidelio is not a man, he is a woman called Leonore who is pretending to be a man in order to save her husband Florestan who has been imprisoned. Leonore is a strong feminine character and is celebrated for her bravery. Tobias Kratzer, the director, has created a interesting, dark and emotive version of Fidelio, it highlights the modern attitudes and advancement of opinions of the characters in the piece. Alexander Soddy, the conductor of the opera throws and conducts with masses of commitment a powerful orchestra and the music fills the room, displaying the reels of emotion this opera holds. The opera is full of emotion and each member of the show from character to musician dedicated their full engagement and committed to their parts to successful show the weight of the story of 'Fidelio'.
Fidelio/Leonore is played by Jennifer Davis, who plays and sings in a way that displays her determination. She sings with power, volume and beautiful technique. The songs where she sings with Marzelline, played by Christina Gansch are a harmony and voice match that radiates lust from Marzelline and fear/avoidance from Fidelio from her. Their voices are a strong match. Marzelline and Leonore are strong feminine characters. Leonore as she is the brave heroine of the story who is devoted and determined to go to great lengths to save her husband and Marzelline, as she is head strong, knows what she wants and is not afraid to push those who get in her way. Considering the opera was written in the early 1900s it is very modern for it's time, giving the females in this piece the most power and it is truly iconic. How they are celebrated and respected by the other characters in the piece is symbolic of how ground breaking this opera is.
The set, designed by Rainer Sellmainer gives the piece it's dark tone. The set has a dull, dark and neutral colour scheme. This feels symbolic of the prison location and the serious tone of the piece. There is a tree at the side of the set, this felt like a symbol for the growing modern opinions, further emphasised in act two when the characters change into modern work clothes, this showed a shift/development of the characters opinions. There were a wide variety of interesting design elements. For instance, in act two which is where you meet Florestan, the husband and he is chained to the stone floor. Gathered around him is a huge audience of spectators, it gave a jury feel. They projected live reactions of the jury on the white back drop. They would eat and drink, this emphasised Florestan's starvation for the bare essentials. The change of scenery style in act two emphasised how the attention has moved from Leonore's perspective to Florestan and how he is badly treated and near death. Before act two they projected a line on to the curtains and screens: "Who ever you shall be I will save you". This truly set the tone of fighting for freedom of those wrongly imprisoned.
This opera is unique and has such an important message behind it. The designers, musicians and characters have put alot of commitment and energy into fully embodying the story for the audience to experience for the beauty and power Beethoven intended. It is a fantastic experience to be able to appreciate this opera that was clearly very modern for it's time. It's a piece of history and you should NOT miss out on it. Also, the music fills the theatre and gives you a full immersive experience.
The one thing I enjoy about theatre, especially shows at the opera house is being able to close my eyes in the opening and fully absorb the first few notes of the music and surroundings.
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