Festival’s Engaging And Stirring ‘Tosca’
Review by Alan C Smith – Tosca, presented by Opera a la Carte – Bermuda Festival of the Performing Arts
Until Monday night, February 14, 2011, my exposure to opera has largely been scenes in movies where a couple is in the audience and one is explaining what is happening to the other or the woman is crying while the man leeches about the theatre with his eyes.
I did watch the whole of “Carmen Jones”, the black film version of the opera “Carmen”, starring Dorothy Dandridge. That doesn’t count. It was edited to keep it moving and it was in English, more or less.
So I was a bit daunted about reviewing “Tosca”, by Opera a la Catre, appearing in the Bermuda Festival this year. I decided to approach it with an everyman attitude and judge it by the same standards and elements that I judge most art.
In Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca”, escaped political prisoner Cesare Angelotti is discovered by artist Mario Cavaradossi hiding in a church where the artist is painting a picture of Mary Magdalene.
Cavaradossi hides the escapee from his lover, singer Floria Tosca, who arrives shortly after the discovery. She flies into a jealous rage when she notices that the painting bears the likeness of Angelotti’s sister, the Marchessa Attavantti, but is soon placated by the declarations of love of her man.
Chief of Police Scarpia, enters the vacated church looking for the runner and when Tosca returns looking for Cavaradossi, Scapia shows her a fan with the Attavantti crest, which reawakens her suspicions of infidelity.
Cavaradossi is captured by the authorities. Tosca reveals Angelotti’s whereabouts when she hears the artist being tortured. Angelotti kills himself and Tosca promises to give herself to Scarpia in exchange for Cavaradossi’s freedom. Scapia writes a letter of safe conduct and when he proceeds to collect his payment from Tosca she stabs him.
Tosca visits Cavardossi in prison. There is to be a mock execution after which they will escape. The execution, unbeknownst to her, is real. She discovers that her lover is really dead and when the authorities come to arrest her for the murder of Scarpia she kills herself.
I know all of this because the information was printed in the programme but much of it was quite easy to figure out in watching the opera. I like the classics contextualised in modernity so it was pleasing to me that the setting was updated to the 1940s during World War II.
The set for the first act was a minimalist approximation of a dark church. Painted pillars and light that seemed filtered through stain glass windows streaming in from one side effectively suggested height and depth. There was little else but a table with two candles and a crucifix and a rise with large easel, a painting and bottle with brushes. I am a big fan of effectively utilised minimalism.
Martin Robson, as Angelotti, was first on stage and he was appropriately bloody and desperate. Andrew Mayor as the Sacristan was suitably aging, humorous and devout. Cheryl Enever as Tosca was requisitely beautiful, plucky, strong-willed, passionate and well dressed. And Charne Rochford was predictably dishevelled, noble and doting as the artist Cavaradossi.
This was all good and the singing, particularly Enevar’s, was beautiful, the exchanges entertaining, but I was not yet won over by this alien (to me) performance genre.
Paul Keohone as Scarpia entered the stage via the theatre, a device consistently employed that served to engage and involve the audience further. He was flanked by Cameron Rolls and Jonathan Pugsley who were appropriately burly, straight-backed and barrel-chested as suited police types/henchmen.
This is where everything changed for me. This is when I was completely engaged and my attention riveted. Mr. Keohone, from the time he entered the stage, seemed to command the whole performance to revolve around him, but not in a selfish way. He was involved with everyone who presented opposite him. The interaction between him and Enever during the second act was the most intense and realistic in the performance. Act II was the most dynamic.
Paul’s presence was what grounded the piece in reality and modernity for me. It provided the immediacy. All of the movement was stylised but his seemed more organic, more connected with genuine emotion and internalisation.
I enjoy good technical actors, who can effortlessly affect emotion but I am most moved by individuals who perform from the inside out. Keohone appeared to be such an actor for me. I am also partial to more naturalistic approaches to theatre performance. While the others played noticeably to the audience, as you do, he seemed more comfortable with turning away from the audience if the moment and mood dictated.
It is very possible that he was directed to move in a more natural fashion for some reason I do not know. If so, I completely approve of the choice. His character, the villain, could have been appropriately this or that but he was a surprise. He was of the moment completely. He could have come across as monstrous, as the character appeared to be written, but there was something sympathetic about him. He was vulnerable in his lechery. He was noble in his quest for justice. He was emblematic of the failings of the establishment, the corrupting lure of power.
Enever, who was also an outstanding presence, seemed to shine more opposite Keohone. When her Tosca murdered his Scarpia, even though I knew it was inevitable, I was disappointed because his energy would be gone from the performance. It did not matter though because now I felt completely invested.
The third act was not as scintillating without him but it was heartbreaking and epic. Enever still shone.
Also worth mentioning is the lovely singing of the chorus throughout, especially during the climactic moments and the sparse chamber-styled music by Benjamin Frost on piano, Oliver Lallemant on organ and Tom Marsden on percussion.
So as a newbie to opera I have no real frame of reference and I cannot necessarily say that is now my thing but I would certainly see another. When I look at the evening and apply my expectations for a good night of theatre all of my requirements were met. It was engaging, stirred the emotions, possessed elements of beauty and transcendence and boasted overall very good performances.
And one that was exceptional. — by Alan Smith
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