To commission and produce a new opera is a brave thing for an unsubsidised company to do, especially in the current arts climate, so warmest congratulations to Opera Holland Park for this achievement. It’s not just the concept which is laudable either. A sung-through full length opera, Itch is sumptuously imaginative, witty and thoughtful. Director, Stephen Barlow and his cast of eight really have worked wonders.
Itchingham Lofte aka as Itch (Adam Temple-Smith) is a geeky teenager who collects samples of elements. He’d really like some uranium for his birthday: cue for audience laughter. With the help of his long-suffering younger sister Jack (Natasha Agarwal) he finds a rock on a beach which seems to be radioactive. He has discovered a new element – and one which has huge commercial, destructive potential so others want to take possession of it for ignoble reasons. Eventually, of course, good triumphs over evil.
Dove’s score is astonishingly expressive and delivered beautifully by a twelve piece orchestra conduced by Jessica Cottis. For example, when Itch and his mother (Rebecca Bottone) are arguing about his explosive experiments it is underpinned by dramatic, amusing trombone leaps. Dove makes terrific atmospheric use of harp too and half the orchestra space is occupied by the percussion section and its impressive pair of players. One of the things I really like about Opera Holland Park is that you can see every single orchestra member.
Temple-Smith finds terrific sensitivity in Itch, using his colourful voice to denote a wide range of emotions and Agarwal blends with him well. There’s a strong sense of sibling bonding/rivalry which they reinforce in their duet work. James Laing (counter tenor) brings other-worldliness to Cake, the beach hippy, who directs them to rocks which have been turned up by an earthquake.
Eric Greene is outstanding as Nicholas Lofte, the children’s father. His powerful bass voice (wonderful sound at the bottom of his register) exudes warmth and passion. Also stunning is Rebecca Bottone in her second role: Roshanna, head of Greencorps who will stop at nothing to obtain Itch’s rocks. Her evil is conveyed by very high, widely spaced notes sung with dramatic attack – imagine The Queen of the Night on amphetamines. Bottone, her intonation almost perfect, manages to make it grimly funny as well as musically impressive.
What most of us will remember most vividly about this show, however, is Frankie Bradshaw’s set. It gives us a beach at the front of the orchestra and a striking cuboid arrangement of boxes at the back through which actors climb. Yes, it’s the periodic table and yes, as one character remarks, it does look a bit like a castle with turrets. Superimposed on this is Jake Wiltshire’s video design – each element lighting up as Itch mentions it. At other times we get landscapes, the bottom of a mine and other scenarios. The boxes meanwhile also become a school science lab and a mining tourist shop. And there’s a delightful moment when Switzerland is mentioned repeatedly and each time the word is mentioned yet another Swiss flag lights up. There is a lot of humour in this opera.
Ultimately, though, it’s a moving piece about redemption and forgiveness as Nicholas, who is away a lot for work and often not there when his children need him, finds and rescues Itch from serious danger. Greene’s lovely voice at this point is emotionally as well as musically resonant.
This was Itch’s world premiere. I hope it now gets taken up elsewhere not least because, along with its many other strengths, it unobtrusively taught me a lot about the periodic table and all learning is a bonus.
Susan Elkin