Love, madness and betrayal

By Rebecca Child

Having never before been to an opera I was unsure what to expect. However, I was pleasantly surprised and Carmen was a treat.

Carmen is a passionate opera about a gypsy girl who inspires love. Carmen is an impulsive and free-spirited girl who shifts her passion from one lover to another with tragic consequences. A soldier called Don Jose falls victim to Carmen’s seductive powers and reciprocating his love she persuades him to leave the army and join her and a band of smugglers. But as they travel Don Jose grows increasingly possessive, trapping her free-spirit with his love. When Don Jose is forced to return home to visit his dying mother, Carmen tries to escape and falls into the arms of Bullfighter Escamillo. This love eventually destroys her. Don Jose returns and fights Escamillo and when Carmen refutes his love, he kills her. This is a passionate tale of love, death and betrayal heightened by a fiery music score that includes epic and rousing songs.

Directors Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser create a fine balance between the Bizet’s passionate score and the sinister world of Carmen’s drug- smuggling connections. Sara Fulgoni performs well as the free-spirited, derisive Carmen. Her voice is compelling and seductively intense. When her protective barrier drops and she sings of her love for Don Jose, the contrast between the shrewd and vulnerable Carmen is flagrant.

Justin Lavender also carried his role convincingly with a rich and mellifluous voice. The musical highlight for me however, was soprano Elizabeth Atherton as Micaëla. Her clear and elegant voice brought warmth and sincerity to her character and elicited empathy from the audience as she sang beautifully of her unrequited love for Don Jose.

For me the first act went on a too long and the story moved too slowly. However, the play redeemed itself with the infusion of pace and colour in the second half. The show is very much an ensemble piece and the chorus was used to its full potential in the second half. When the chorus rush to a line at the front of stage and point to a procession making its way into the bullring the rapidity of the music and the flamboyant colourful costumes created a visual delight. It is in these chorus scenes that the conductor Michal Klauza switches pace and allows Bizet’s musical score to explode into life.

Carmen is a fervent opera with a compelling music. It was well-performed and visually pleasing; an opera with plenty to savour.