{"id":4649,"date":"2018-09-29T10:40:10","date_gmt":"2018-09-29T09:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larkreviews.co.uk\/?p=4649"},"modified":"2018-09-29T10:40:10","modified_gmt":"2018-09-29T09:40:10","slug":"eno-salome-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=4649","title":{"rendered":"ENO: Salome"},"content":{"rendered":"

London Coliseum, Friday 28th<\/sup> September 2018<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Salome<\/em> should be a visceral assault regardless of whether it is the play or the opera. When Richard Strauss\u2019 opera is given in English with much of Tom Hammond\u2019s translation mirroring Wilde\u2019s text it should be doubly effective. That Adena Jacobs\u2019 production for ENO manages to drain most of the emotion out of it is quite a feat in itself. It is not so much that the production misfires \u2013 there are many telling moments and much of the score is well sung and presented \u2013 as that the temperature never rises above cool and the final scene is distinctly underwhelming.<\/p>\n

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Billed as a boldly feminine interpretation<\/em> it was difficult to see how this claim was justified in terms of the production itself. That Salome is objectified by all around her is certainly a valid approach but the lack of eye contact, or more importantly the sense of the gaze, kills any sense of lust or passion.<\/p>\n

Marg Horwell\u2019s sets are equally unhelpful here. The vast open spaces make the singers look lost and rather that the claustrophobic world of both text and score, we have little sense of a community constantly inward-looking and cut off from the outside world. Of the many productions I have seen, WNO\u2019s most recent was by far the most effective with its pierced Islamic screens and constant prying eyes. For ENO, all too often the stage is empty apart from the protagonist.<\/p>\n

Needless to say there is no dance for Herod, and after a few listless poses Salome gives up and hands the dance over to four professional dancers, though there is little point as Herod is not watching anyway.<\/p>\n

If there is supposed to be a close relationship with Herodias it is not obvious until the end which comes about as a double suicide. This hardly seems to be a feminist outcome as the men have all too obviously won yet again.<\/p>\n

The singing is mostly strong, particularly in the smaller parts where Stuart Jackson\u2019s Narraboth is particularly effective, and Susan Bickley a commanding Herodias. In any other production Michael Colvin\u2019s Herod might be very persuasive as he is vocally on top of the part but his near insanity for much of the evening \u2013 ending up with his Father Christmas sack \u2013 cuts against any impact he might have made.<\/p>\n

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The five Jews are impressive – though they would never have agreed to mop up spilt blood! \u2013 as are the two Nazarenes.<\/p>\n

This leaves us with the two protagonists. David Soar has previously impressed and is always a positive presence on stage but here Jokanaan seems to lie out of his reach. Too often the voice sounded strained and uncomfortable rather than the noble centre it requires. As Salome Allison Cook looked and acted exactly as Adena Jacobs obviously intended, the Barbie doll \/ My Little Pony overtones neatly focused and the lack of emotion throughout carefully controlled. All would have been well but her voice never carries the authority the part needs, particularly in the final scenes. There was no sense of development or a gaining of control. Even from front centre of the Coliseum stage her voice could not soar over the orchestra. Having heard Jessye Norman almost drown out the orchestra in this final scene I know it is possible!<\/p>\n

The orchestra played with considerable finesse but Martyn Brabbins did not seem to be able to find the raw power and dangerous, heady enthusiasm Strauss calls for.<\/p>\n

It is difficult to see how this production could be better focussed if it were to return. Meanwhile we have Porgy and Bess<\/em> to look forward to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

London Coliseum, Friday 28th September 2018 Salome should be a visceral assault regardless of whether it is the play or the opera. When Richard Strauss\u2019 opera is given in English with much of Tom Hammond\u2019s translation mirroring Wilde\u2019s text it … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4649"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4649"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4652,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4649\/revisions\/4652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}