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***** (5 stars)

“Fascinatingly Contrasting”

Scottish Opera chose a very interesting pair of one-act operas for their contribution to this autumn’s Lammermuir Festival, with performances in Glasgow and Edinburgh later in the year.

Ravel’s L’heure espagnole is an amusing farce – an old clockmaker’s younger wife attempts to enliven the one day of the week her husband is out, with interestingly confusing results.  Walton’s The Bear at first sight seems much more sombre – there is humour, but subtler and understated in the tale of a grieving widow who refuses to re-engage with life, despite the urgings of her servant.  She is determined to punish her husband by her extreme devotion in mourning; it takes the arrival of a determined creditor to shatter her calm demeanour, with surprising results.

It’s not particularly uncommon to find the Ravel in performance, but the Walton is very rarely staged – so this was a particularly exciting evening for opera lovers.  It was also a wonderful demonstration of Scottish Opera’s ability to select young singers who display great potential for their Emerging Artists programme, and continue to cast them in increasingly prominent roles as they mature as performers.

Lea Shaw is the perfect example of this.  I’ve been struck by her talent from the first time I saw her when she was an Emerging Artist: her performance as the bored and frustrated clockmaker’s wife, Concepciòn, was brilliant.  Much of her part consisted of telling us, the audience, how frustrated she was, while at the same time juggling two would-be lovers and, in the process, finding that the despised third young man is actually the most promising of all.  Her ability to conceal her increasing frustration while juggling two very different suitors in and out of her husband’s clocks was masterly – the slightest gesture or facial expression spoke volumes.  And her singing is as magnificent as ever.

Three current Emerging Artists did double duty this evening, while a fourth took on the massive role of Yelena Ivanovna Popova, the grieving widow.  Chloe Harris was at first subdued, seemingly meek and mild, devoted to the memory of her husband.  Only slowly did her burning resentment of his philandering behaviour emerge: her continuing mourning was an attempt to punish him, make him suffer beyond the grave.  As her husband’s creditor increased his pressure on her to pay a long-outstanding debt, her composure slowly cracked and shattered, with explosive results. Another fabulous voice that I want to hear again, and soon!

Tenor Luvo Maranti was new to me.  He had little to do in The Bear, but was obviously at home in comedy.  In the Ravel, he was perfectly cast as Gonzalve, the lyrical poet who would rather write verse about his experiences of engaging with a woman than actually get down to any action.  His voice is gorgeous, and Ravel’s music really suited him.  Again, I want to hear more!  [excellent news: I get to hear both of them in the touring company’s programme at the Traverse next weekend…]

I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve seen to date of Edward Jowle.  He can handle both comedy and more serious stuff, as shown in his performances in Trial by Jury, A Matter of Misconduct and La Bohème.  Tonight he was mildly funny as the uptight [and over-sized] nobleman seeking a bit of a fling with Concepciòn: he was superbly comical as the concerned butler, Luka – definite touches of John Cleese and the Addams’s Lerch there – alternating impeccable buttling and at times very subtle, at times outrageous, attempts to restore proper behaviour as that of his mistress and her visitor become increasingly uninhibited. 

And Daniel Barrett: what a joy!  Gorgeous voice, lively manner, excellent comic timing and also the ability to switch to heart-breaking pathos in an instant – again, I really look forward to seeing more of him.  As the naïve muleteer Ramiro, he willingly hefted enormous clocks around at the behest of the lively Concepciòn, mistaking her machinations for kindly attempts to give him employment, and grateful that he is not expected to engage her in conversation – he doesn’t know how to deal with women, and is much happier around animals.  Though by the end of the opera, I think he’s beginning to change his mind…  Daniel’s Grigory Stepanovich Smimov is a complete contrast, initially polite and even beseeching as he attempts to collect the debt which will save him from financial ruin, and gradually transforming into the hulking great angry bear of the title, expressing a maelstrom of conflicting emotions towards the grieving widow.

Last, but by no means least, Jamie McDougall was his subtly comic best as the trusting clockmaker, Torquemada and the hapless cook, roped in at the last minute to try to help butler Luka and [unnamed] groom deal with the raging monster who’s wrecking their mistress’s house.

Jamie is a wonderfully versatile performer – deeply moving in his recent, final, performances as Harry Lauder, and seemingly able to turn his hand to just about everything.

The simple set sat well amidst that of Bohème – fluorescent tubes changed colour to reflect the moods of the pieces with superb contrast between the brightly-hued Spanish setting and the sombre, black-and-lilac Russian gloom.  Costumes and props in the Ravel were equally colourful and fantastical, underlining the light-hearted mood, while a funeral parlour setting, complete with coffin and portrait of the deceased and home to many black potted palm trees, spoke clearly of deep melancholy.  

The music was also fascinatingly contrasting.  Ravel wrote different styles of music for each of his protagonists, so that much of the opera consisted of show pieces for each character: only in the final quintet did all five characters come together, though each had something different to say.  It seemed quite bizarrely out of place but I guess also a strangely fitting way to end such a whimsical piece.  I have to say I much preferred the Walton because the piece was more of a continuous piece and the orchestration was subtle and complex and very clearly revealed what was going on inside each character’s head.  I can’t say it sounded very Russian, though!

Both pieces were very well received, and together made a splendid evening’s entertainment, while also showcasing the talent of Scottish Opera’s younger artists.  Small wonder that the audience were moved to long and deeply appreciative applause at the end of The Bear.  

L’Heure Espagnole and The Bear, Scottish Opera, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, RUN ENDED

***** (5 stars)

“It’s Simply Stunning”

Having just got back from Finland the night before, I was tired and the temptation not to go out into a dark and wet night was strong.  I am SO glad I made it to the FilmHouse for this world premiere of David Ireland’s The Fifth Step.  

It’s simply stunning.

The play’s title references one of the Alcoholics Anonymous Twelve Steps, which their website says provide a structured and gradual process of recovery from addiction to alcohol.  The fourth step is to make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves: the fifth is to admit to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.  The website goes on to say that ‘God’ in the 12 Steps absolutely does not have to be a religious entity.  The purpose is to think of a higher power, such as nature, or simply what happens when people come together to help each other.

James has been sober for many years.  He’s a quiet, respectable Englishman who is very self-contained but at the same time seems happy to reach out to help Luka, who has not long arrived at AA.  Luka’s in a bad way – twitching and jiggling around, words streaming out of him in tortured explosions.  He’s a Scot, a ginge with a huge chip on his shoulder and a maelstrom of emotions whirling inside him: he’s like a pressure cooker on the verge of exploding.

Luka asks James to be his sponsor: James agrees, and the two men meet regularly.  We see Luka beginning slowly to creep out of his tormented life and to establish habits that help him resist the constant temptations of alcohol and the obsessive behaviours in which he hides.  We also discover more about the incredibly reserved James – all is not well in his life despite his protestations to the contrary.   Luka has struggled with writing his step four, and when he begins to approach step five the relationship between the two men comes under extreme pressure.

Words fail me as I try to describe just how good Martin Freeman and Jack Lowden are as James and Luka – and how brilliantly their delivery of David Ireland’s words takes us on a roller-coaster ride of emotions.  In the after-show Q&A with these three men, we heard that the sympathies of Scottish audiences were totally with the troubled Luka, while in England it was English James who got the sympathy for encountering the large, loud, in your face Scot.  This must make me a Scot [by adoption], for my sympathy was totally with Luka, both for his initial struggles and the incredible progress he made.  James’ initial gentle calm helpfulness cracked under pressure, and a much less likeable person began to emerge…

I don’t want to go into greater detail: you’ll have to see this for yourself!  There’s incredible humour – again, particularly Scottish in some places, with the cinema audience laughing heartily while the theatre audience seemed quite silent.  The language is rich, very graphic in places, and wonderfully descriptive both of emotions and situations.  A constant thread throughout the evening is the ‘God’ of AA – both deeply moving and hysterically funny at times, with a wonderful final twist.

The filming of the play is incredibly well done – we are virtually beside James and Luka on stage much of the time, and can see the slightest trace of emotions flitting across their faces.  The play began its life in 2024 with National Theatre of Scotland productions in Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasow.  Earlier this year, the show transferred to the West End of London and was a sell-out success at the intimate, in-the-round @sohoplace theatre.  It’s this production that was captured live and which you will be able to watch in cinemas from November 27^th [thefifthstep.ntlive.com]

This is one of the most powerful pieces of theatre I’ve seen in a long time – you’d be a fool to miss it!

The Fifth Step, National Theatre Live!, General Release on 18th November at Cinemas Nationwide