Smetana, The Bartered Bride: Soloists, Chorus, Mid Wales Opera Chamber Orchestra, Theatre Elli, Llanelli, West Wales, 22.09.2006 (GPu)

Conductor: Keith Darlington
Director: Stephen Medcalf
Designer: Nicky Shaw
Lighting: Robert Wallbank
Choreographer: Sarah Fahie

Marenka / Myfanwy: Camilla Roberts
Jenik / Joseph: Adrian Dwyer
Kecal / Kettle: Simon Wilding
Vasek / Victor: Christopher Steele
Krusina / Lloyd-Morgan: Mark Saberton
Ludmilla / Morwenna: Gaynor Keeble
Micha / Toby Mitchell: Sion Gorowny
Hata / Hattie Mitchell: Sarah Jillian Cox
Ringmaster: Ian Jervis
Esmeralda: Olivia Ray
Indian / Bass Chorus: Alex Poulton
Soprano Chorus: Shuna Scott Sendall
Soprano Chorus: Caroline Amnéus
Tenor Chorus: Darren Clarke
Circus Performer: Big Gray
Circus Performer: Joelle

Grand as ‘Grand’ Opera can be, there is also much to be said for the kind of small-scale productions put on by touring companies – when they are well done. At their best these are not merely black and white reproductions of coloured originals. They have their own virtues, not least intimacy and clarity.

Mid-Wales Opera has been responsible for a whole series of such productions, since its foundation in 1988, including in recent years Cosi fan tutte (2001), La Cenerentola (2002), Don Giovanni (2003), Rigoletto (2004) and Carmen (2005). These productions – generally very well received critically – have been toured to a huge range of (mostly) small venues in (mostly) areas where live opera would not otherwise be heard. Now they have turned their attentions to Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, sung in English in a new translation by Amanda Holden.

Smetana’s opera can seem so Czech, so much the early nationalist opera, that audiences can be left on the outside, peering in at an anthropologically interesting oddity, graced by some fine music. Mid-Wales Opera have, rather brilliantly, solved that problem by transposing the narrative to Wales. This is The Bartered Bride, if not quite in Llaregyb, at any rate in a kind of mythical small Welsh town, full of affectionately observed stereotypes. And it is sufficiently well sung and played for one to want to echo the sentiments of Dylan Thomas’s Reverend Eli Jenkins of Llaregyb – “Praise the Lord! We are a musical nation”.

The geographical transposition works well – in terms of the sense of Welsh nationalism, sustained in the face of a larger, more powerful neighbour and articulated in such activities as the Eistedddfod and (somewhat differently) the Rugby club. Both provide suitable social occasions for some of Smetana’s music of dance and celebration. The choreography by Sarah Fahie attractively and intriguingly builds on resemblances between certain Welsh folk dances and dances such as the Polka and the Skocná. Amanda Holden’s translation is witty and skilful – my favourite rhyme fellows were “a pig in clover” and “a modern Casanova”! Stephen Medcalf’s production soon persuaded one that relocating the tale in Wales was far more than a mere gimmick. It has a totally plausible dramatic coherence and, above all, it encouraged the audience to recognise themselves in what they saw, to see what is there in Karel Sabina’s original libretto and Smetana’s music – not some quaint goings on in foreign land, but a narrative of love and vulnerability, of parents and children, of a cynicism which calls itself realism, of hope, desire and fear, of, that is to say, the emotions and attitudes through which we all live our lives. Sabina’s story has all the features of a Romance – the celebration of spring and renewal, the triumph of love, the victory of the young over the old, a lost son, a recognition scene, a narrow aversion of the tragic, the affirmation of the festive in a bleak society, the closing marriage, and much more. Reminders of Shakespeare’s comedies are not far to seek. We even had characters who entered – rather – than exited, “pursued by a bear”!

The mostly young cast acquitted themselves very decently. As Myfanwy (I will use the names given to characters in this translation) Camille Roberts was impressive, her powerful high register beautifully controlled, both her self- assertiveness and her loss of confidence articulated persuasively in tone and inflection. The Joseph of Adrian Dwyer was blessed with an attractive tone and subtlety of phrasing, though he was occasionally a little underpowered in some of his climaxes. The two worked well together. Simon Wilding was an oleaginous, yet menacing, Kettle, and Christopher Steele discovered in Victor a personality both strangely dignified and utterly ridiculous, so that one could be moved to both pity and laughter, as well as to pleasure in his eventual liberation from his mother’s control.

Act III’s many changing moods were convincingly portrayed – from the hilarious, Wild West Circus, rather the worse for wear in several senses, to the poignancy of Myfanwy’s aria on her (supposed) betrayal by Joseph. Indeed, this production brought out the emotional complexity of the opera more interestingly than many a ‘grand’ production has been able to do.

The accomplished Keith Darlington conducted the ten-piece orchestra with energy and judgement in an orchestral reduction prepared by Tony Burke. Naturally there were some losses – but the clarity of the textures enabled one to hear the abundant dancing rhythms of Smetana’s music with particular clarity.

This production of The Bartered Bride tours Wales and beyond - it has already been presented at the Opera House in Buxton and there are performances to come in Canterbury, Colchester, Bracknell and Huddersfield, as well as at a number of venues around Wales, until mid November. Details can be found on the company’s website: http://www.midwalesopera.co.uk/. I strongly urge English and Welsh readers to seek it out – they are assured of a good evening’s theatre.

Glyn Pursglove