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Dvořàk, Rusalka:  English Touring Opera, Northcott Theatre, Exeter 22.10.2008 (BK)

Rusalka: Donna Bateman, soprano
Prince: Richard Roberts, tenor
Water Spirit: Keel Watson, bass baritone
Jezibaba: Fiona Kimm, mezzo
Foreign princess: Camilla Roberts, soprano
Gamekeeper: Maciek O’Shea, baritone
Turnspit: Jessica Summers, soprano
Forest Girls: Angela Caesar, soprano; Abigail Kelly,soprano; Alison Crookendale, mezzo

Conductor: Alex Ingram
Director: James Conway
Sets and costumes: Paul Wills
Lighting: David Holmes


English Touring Opera’s production of Rusalka takes place on a typically minimalist set, with exquisite lighting lending further subtlety to the concept. As usual, ETO's ability to utilise very little in the way of sets is a huge benefit to a company whose remit is to take productions to places which usually have little or nothing in the way of opera and where theatres are not designed to contain either large casts, a full orchestra or complex stage designs.

Rusalka is, of course, a story about the meeting of people from different worlds and the impossibility of this ever turning out well for the protagonists. The heroine is a water spirit and her lover a human prince. It seems to be the case however, that opera directors everywhere have a growing problem with the whole area of magical beings or mystical experiences, and the latest trend seems to be to distance the action as far away as possible from the west by setting it in a kind of pseudo-Africa (as in Schlingensieff’s  Bayreuth Parsifal) or in this case, in the rain forests of Haiti. Director James Conway makes it clear that he has deliberately chosen this route because Haiti is a ‘real place’ where it is still possible to find ‘parallel cultures’ existing alongside ‘the presence of water spirits’ and ‘a belief in magic’. He might  have tried 21^st century Glastonbury for a closer example.

This is a good attempt at a meaningful interpretation, but it comes unstuck fairly quickly, simply because Rusalka isn’t about mere belief or social class differences but deals with alternative realities. Rusalka isn’t a  young African woman coming  to terms with the impossibility of finding true love with a plantation owner, any more than she is a Puerto Rican girl coming to terms with gang warfare in New York. No, she’s an actual nymph, the witch is an actual witch who can turn Rusalka into a girl and the guy with the buckets of water is in fact another water spirit. These two have decidedly nasty powers in the folk tale and they aren’t afraid to use them.

The English translation, when its words could be heard, didn’t help matters along much either, occasionally giving the unintended impression of having come straight from W.S. Gilbert. It was funny from time to time, but in the wrong places. Unless we think Jezibaba the witch is hilarious, of course.

As is usual with this company, the orchestration was a skilful reduction of Dvořàk’s lush music, but some of the richness has necessarily been sacrificed. The playing was uniformly excellent under Alex Ingram’s assured guidance.

Amongst the singers, Keel Watson and Donna Bateman were the best by some margin since none of the other principals were on their best form. Mr Watson as the Water Spirit/Carrier had some trouble with his buckets now and then, but his voice was convincingly deep and dark and he is a commanding presence on stage.

Ms Bateman was a vulnerable and sad Rusalka. Settling after the first act's famous 'Song to the Moon',  a decidedly nerve-racking piece for anyone, she showed more vocal assurance and security as she went on, and was an appealing presence as both nymph and the magically dumbstruck young woman.  It  remained a mystery why the Prince ever left her.

Bill Kenny


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