The result is a futuristic, almost other-worldly setting that is played out here like a child’s dreamscape. The opera begins with a young girl in her bedroom placing the needle on a record player to listen to a crackling version of the opening overture.

Beyond the bedroom we see the lights of a grand chandelier, before doors open to reveal a splendid dinner table. But looks are deceiving, because what starts with a formal grace ends with an unwanted guest and an almighty row.

Brining doesn’t return to the scene again, but the characters within it become the main players in the opera, watched on occasionally from the side-lines by the little girl.

The idea of the action being the figment of a child’s imagination and her parent’s feuding works well, particularly because there is so much within the story that fits a fairytale-style narrative – monster-sized serpents, magical instruments, supernatural powers, and a strange Freemason-style brotherhood sect.

Colin Richmond’s extravagant set and costumes immerse us in this world, creating alongside the music, a true feast for the senses, mixing multi-media projection with impactful props like the dangling trees, whose roots hang like blood-vessels ripped from the ground.

Kang Wang and Vuvu Mpofu make an engaging central couple as Tamino and Pamina. Gavan Ring is both charming and comic playing bird-catcher Papageno in his native Irish accent. John Findo nails the wretched molestster Monostatos and Samantha Hay is a scene-stealer on every entrance as the Queen of the Night.

It was announced at the start John Savournin had a cold on the Tuesday evening we saw his Sarastro, but it wasn’t noticeable in his rich bass notes that felt like they came from somewhere in the middle of the earth.

There is quite a bit of dialogue as well as singing in this opera, and at three hours long it sometimes feels drawn-out and over wordy in places. Perhaps some of the dialogue could have been cut because even though it’s sung in English, the story itself doesn’t always make a huge lot of sense.

Saying that, the tale and this production of it is nonetheless captivating. Many of the arias are instantly recognizable and beautifully sung. It’s at times crazy, dark, comic, repulsive, beautiful and touching. Mozart created an opera that is both unfathomable and fun, and Brining has captured this playfulness, making it one to let your imagination play and get lost in.

The Magic Flute is at The Lowry, Salford Quays on 5 and 9 March 2019.

Read our interview with director James Brining.

The post The Magic Flute, Opera North, Theatre Review appeared first on Quays Life.

Having previously worked with Welsh National Opera on Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd and with Opera North on Into the Woods at Leeds Playhouse, Brining is no stranger to producing musicals with opera companies. But what was it like to direct his first opera?

James: “Opera presents different challenges to theatre as the music is the heartbeat of the piece and guides you to what’s important and what a character’s emotional state is at any given time. Of course, it also means working with a conductor at every rehearsal which I’m really enjoying.”

Q: With an opera written in the 18^th century, one of the challenges must be to make it relevant for modern audiences. How do you approach that?

James: “I want The Magic Flute to be a piece about now, rather than a piece about a world that we’re not part of any more. A great human truth lies at the heart of this opera. The Priest of the Sun and the Queen of the Night illustrate two different ways of being in the world: they’re in conflict with each other, but neither is a bad person in their own heads. There is also the contrast of day with night, man with woman, high musical notes with low. The whole thing feels timely in the way it mirrors the extremes in today’s world and the need to find a third way between opposing points of view.”

Q: So would you say the themes still resonate today?

James: “Yes. Friendship, what love means, religion and how a religious community can be a benign place when you’re in it and hostile to those wanting to leave. It’s about the individual questioning society, leading to self-development and self-discovery. It’s also about freedom and what people want – and what they need – to be happy.”

Q: What for you makes opera different?

“The heightened emotions of the opera make naturalism more difficult. As a theatre director, I wanted to ensure there was a clear narrative arc with one thing naturally leading into another. It’s important that the audience remains emotionally engaged and understands the characters and the journeys they go on.”

Q: Is it easy to understand if you’ve never been to an opera before?

James: “Yes. It is sung in English and includes some intriguing contemporary references. The way we’ve approached it, it’s a bit like a mash-up of The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror and Dr Who.

“The production also makes imaginative use of projections to blur the lines between reality and fantasy, with some of the more unusual props including inflatable octopus tentacles.”

Q: And what about the characters?

James: “I’m interested in the psychological impulses behind the characters’ actions. This is a work which manages to be both dark and joyous with people finding themselves in some very vulnerable positions throughout. I’ve also introduced an additional cast of children because I think the piece asks us to consider the world from a child’s perspective, to see it through their eyes.”

Q: The Magic Flute contains some of Mozart’s most sublime music including the Queen of the Night’s aria, an instantly recognisable tune which is one of the most difficult operatic pieces for a soprano to sing. Do you think there is something magical about the Magic Flute?

James: “I’m certain the name of the opera was deliberately chosen by Mozart to underline his belief in the power of music and the transforming role culture can play in people’s lives. The desire for creativity makes basic physical sense, and to me that’s what we’re celebrating in our own creative act, that act of performance in a theatre in Leeds 200 years after the original.”

The Magic Flute opens at Leeds Grand Theatre on Saturday 19 January 2019 before touring to The Lowry, Salford Quays 5-9 March 2019, Newcastle Theatre Royal and Nottingham Theatre Royal.

The post Opera North’s Magic Flute ‘It’s a bit like a mash-up of The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror and Dr Who’ appeared first on Quays Life.