I have a very ambiguous relationship with Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia.  Britten’s music I love and there’s a pretty dramatic story (albeit nonsense historically) trying to escape from Ronald Duncan’s weird Christo-prophetic and somewhat overripe libretto.  Centaurs casting their seed among the stars?  Anyone?  So I was most interested to see what Anna Theodosakis would do with it in her production for UoT Opera currently playing at Harbourfront Centre.

I was impressed.  Her production comes as near as any I’ve seen to overcoming the difficulties.  She sets the piece in the present; Roman officers in dress uniforms, the Male and Female Chorus looking like Central Casting’s ideal of the power couple; he in blue suit and red tie, she in knee length red dress.  Lucretia doesn’t actually die but the propaganda effect is the same.  Her story goes viral.  Coupled with the scene where hidden characters chant slogans like “Down wwith the Etruscans” and “Rome for the Romans” the weird prophetic elements feel more Fox News than Revelations.  Using a simple unit set with mainly flowers as props and some drapery is also pretty effective.

So, we can enjoy the music without worrying too much about getting our feet wet in Christ’s blood and the music making is excellent.  This is tricky music and it’s well done here (note I saw the Friday cast, who will sing agin on Sunday.  There are some changes from the Thursday/Saturday cast).  I think pride of place goes to Christian Matta as the Male Chorus.  He has a lot of music to sing and a difficult character to pull off and he is just totally convincing.  Ironically perhaps, the title character, sung here by Taline Yeremian, has less to do (I don’t think Mr. Duncan cared much for women) but she does it really well.  Her smoky mezzo has the gravitas needed for Lucretia and she’s a fine actor.  In the scene where she approaches Collatinus on his return from the war time seems to stand still.

The Roman officers are all very good.  One could argue that Josh Gibson’s Tarquinius is more bombastic than truly threatening but it works and he sings well.  Omar Hilaloğlu and Mena Lukic are very effective as Collatinus and Junius.  All three performers manage the emotional transition from drunken camp revels to tragedy and revolt very well.  Delaney Dam and Sloane Ryan as Lucretia’s maids are pretty good too.  Dam manages to act well beyond her years and Ryan pulls Lucia’s girlish naivety off very well.  I always feel that the Female Chorus is rather let down by the libretto.  The character should be more than some kind of sub-Socratic foil for her male counterpart but she isn’t!  That said Zyion Stephens made a pretty good fist of what the part does get and was quite touching in the final scene.

The thirteen piece chamber ensemble was excellent with some very fine playing in some of the rather exposed solo lines.  Harbourfront Centre is perfect for a work on this scale but with no real pit, stage/orchestra balance can be tricky.  Conductor Sandra Horst managed this  most effectively as well as bringing out some of the really fine solo lines Britten builds into this score.

I don’t think ‘m ever going to fall in love with The Rape of Lucretia but this production and performance made a good case for it.

There are two more performances; this evening and Sunday afternoon.

Photo credit: Hugh Li