Leeds Grand Theatre – on tour until 16th November 2023
Reviewed by Dawn Smallwood
4****
Opera North’s new Green Season is underway at the Leeds Grand Theatre with its second production, a world premiere, Henry Purcell’s Masque of Might . Masque is an entertainment genre which is equivalent to a variety show in the 17th Century when Purcell composed his musical pieces and texts.
Purcell’s music and assembled libretto has been arranged to musical numbers to structure this story, under the ingenuity of Sir David Pountney’s inspiring adaptation and direction, to focally narrate nature and its vulnerability. The re-imagined Masque of Might is an apocalyptic telling of the story fuelled by an authoritarian dictator, Diktat (Callum Thorpe), whose tyranny and destructive powers impact the planet and the activists warning about it.
An eclectic of the tradition and the modern of the narration introduces Nebulous (Andri Björn Róbertsson) and Elena (Anna Dennis) who are both powerful beings. They observe Diktat and how his authoritarian ruthless rule has a destructive impact on the earth.
Diktat reviews imprisoned activists who have been arrested for protesting about the climate crisis and their activism, only for both Nebulous and Scrofulous (Xavier Hetherington) to join them as they bravely warn Diktat the polluted state of the earth and its consequences. The arrests bring tragedy where Elena laments and mourns the loss of Nebulous.
In the second part, Elena joins Sceptic (Matthew Brook) to punish Diktat with the arrangements for the tyrant to see, hear and feel the full forces of nature and awakens his attention to what is really happening. After Diktat not believing in the climate crisis, a biblical vision is shown to Diktat about King Saul visiting the Witch of Endor and he learns about his limited time of rule and power. His remorse is a little too late with direct destructive consequences. After Diktat is destroyed celebratory song and dance are performed and facilitated by the Queen of the Night (Elena). Light is seen and the earth and its abundant variety heals once again.
An excellent all-around performance, singing and dancing, from the cast and company and is musically directed by Harry Bicket. Thorpe plays a strong and powerful villainous portrayal of Diktat and Dennis plays a flexible and adaptive role of Elena, under the choreographic direction of Denni Sayers.
Leslie Travers’ staging is sustainably eye capturing with its responsible, reusable and repurposed sets which is fitting for this production. Diktat’s bed is assembled of plastic bottles and paper cups and the bed unsays and provokes thinking about how plastic and rubbish have become a culprit towards the environmental destruction. David Haneke’s videographic visuals and projections are stimulatingly stunning and awakens the plight of the troubled planet as well as being aesthetic and creative.
Wonderful costumes by Marie-Jeanne Lecca, which are sustainably made and plenty of thought is given for how the costumes fit in each set and scene with its themes. Paule Constable and Ben Pickersgill’s lighting consistently reflect and depict the varied strong moods from pessimism to optimism, dark to light, seriousness to humour and vice versa from and among the characters.
It resonates with today’s climate crisis and the brave activism that is being done around the world. In the political sphere today particularly where countries that have totalitarian and authoritarian rulers and to some extent some who prioritise fundamental economics and secular interests, activists and protesters have been suppressed and oppressed and even jailed for their activism. The moral of Masque of the Might is for everyone to take the responsibility to be environmentally and sustainably aware and do their bit for the planet’s welfare in their everyday lives. Opera North’s exemplifies this by having their Green Season and it fits so well in the narrative of this performance and production. Masque of Might is sustainably educating and entertaining and is just as relevant today than when it was musically created back in the 17th Century.