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Autumn 2012 a backstage journal

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Hi,

My name is Rebecca and I am a recent graduate, an intern at ETO and an aspiring opera director. This season I have gone behind the scenes of ETO’s opera-making process. I have observed rehearsals, researched the operas and cornered the creatives to discover exactly what happens behind the curtain.

You may have seen my articles, interviews and photographs on the ETO website, our blog Opera that Moves and on Twitter and Facebook. Verity Bramson, another ETO intern, has also been writing a series of blog posts called No Red Herrings. This journal is a collection of our findings from the last two months giving you our audiences, a sneak peek backstage at the season.

For Autumn 2012, general director James Conway has opted for a season of adventurous modern opera. First we have The Emperor of Atlantis. Written in Terezin concentration camp during the Second World War, this show is inseparable from its compelling history. As abstract as it is powerful, this is one of the boldest shows I have ever seen and it has been wonderful to see it come together.

Next we have The Lighthouse, a thriller about madness, isolation and secrets. Very human, very dark, and very exciting. This is theatrical opera at its best.

The third opera is Albert Herring. This Britten classic couldn’t be more different from the other shows. It is a jolly British romp about country life, social etiquette and class conflict.

The shows have just opened at the Linbury theatre, and everyone at ETO is thrilled with the result.

Happy reading!

Rebecca HanburyETO intern

3The Emperor of Atlantis

by Viktor Ullmann

In June 1940 the Gestapo took control of Terezín, an abandoned fort in the Czech Republic. By the end of November it had been turned into a ghetto, holding hundreds of thousands of Jews. Those who survived its horrendous conditions waited there to be transported to their deaths at Auschwitz and Treblinka extermination camps. Two of the inmates were composer Viktor Ullmann, and librettist Peter Kien who collaborated in 1943 to write an opera – The Emperor of Atlantis. It was never performed during their lifetime, Nazi authorities banned the opera after the dress rehearsal in Terezín. Both Ullmann and Kien died at Auschwitz before the end of the war.

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Dancing Under the Scaffold

Intrigued by the circumstances of its composition, I slipped into rehearsals to get an insight into the opera. What effect would its history have on the show and what sort of music could such a place produce?

Ullmann’s score is not a self-conscious response to the genocide. It is an opera about life and death. On one level it is political – using characters which represent different aspects of European history (for example the cold blooded Kaiser and a Harlequin, representing the fading decadence of the Weimar Republic). This all sounds pretty enigmatic, but for director James Conway these politics are of secondary importance. For him, the power of the opera comes from the eloquent discussions of human life voiced by music he describes as ‘ravishingly beautiful’.

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So despite my preconceptions, it was not the political implications of the opera which led rehearsals. The focus is on the lyrical poetry of the score as a response to the circumstances of its composition. What is taking shape, therefore, is a playfully theatrical show in which “Death” goes on strike because there is too much killing.

This for Conway represents the crux of the opera and the connection with life in Terezín concentration camp – they are stuck in the hellish limbo of the living dead. Both composer and character are waiting to die. What we are seeing is an image of death conjured from a horrifically unusual position. But this is in no way a self-pitying show. Using moments of touching sincerity, black comedy and even showbiz, it celebrates the natural cycle of life and death.

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‘The living have forgotten how to laugh and the dying how to die’.

This is a celebration of human spirit in the face of the horror of war. And so I turn back to my research and start to read about the spirit within the Jewish ghettos, rather than the history of them. The music, literature and cultural activities which, against all odds, came out of Terezín were remarkable. One survivor described life in the ghetto:

‘We were dancing under the scaffold, but we were still dancing’

It is amazing what solace music can bring. At the end of today’s rehearsal Kyrie Feltham, deputy stage manager of the show, gave me her thoughts on the opera: ‘It is amazing that all those people rehearsed Ullman’s opera in a concentration camp. The music and the hope that it brought probably helped to keep them alive, and it is life-affirming to think that we are continuing their work’.

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Designing Atlantis Designer Neil

Irish talks about his latest creation - the visuals of The Emperor of Atlantis

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What was the first thing that struck you about the Emperor of Atlantis?It has an extraordinary mix of elements, there is the history of concentration camps and then all the mad characters. The challenge was finding a visual language to embrace all those different elements.

Can you tell us a bit about the set design of the Emperor of Atlantis?For the set design we wanted something quite skeletal. Because of the clown we wanted to incorporate circus references, but also burlesque and a poor theatre aesthetic. Obviously there are the dominant pieces like the mirror which are mentioned in the score. Then we wanted some subliminal reflections on the concentration camp - part of the set looks like a railway track, the curtain

almost looks like a perimeter fence and Loudspeaker’s tower is like a camp tower with a spot light. But these ideas are morphed with the circus aesthetic. It has quite an expressionistic feel.

And how did you approach designing the costumes?The characters are actually quite specific. There is the Harlequin who is described as a clown and Death - a soldier who has been dead for thousands of years. Loudspeaker is meant to be a god, and Bubikopf is a sort of urban guerilla, a female fighter, so it is quite clear really.

Which character excited you most? Death is probably the most interesting because of all the baggage that comes with it. It does say he is a soldier, so that gave good leeway to get away from the usual references of death so hopefully it is not too obvious. If you

saw him on stage you wouldn’t instantly know he was Death. We have started to get some make up on him for and I think he’s starting to look quite interesting.

Was this a particularly challenging production?Yes, because it is quite a wide canvas. Even though the characters are quite specific, the set and the context of it are quite wide - it is not a room or an obvious set up - so we have run with the camp messages but morphed it with other themes, so hopefully it is fairly subliminal.

Have you worked with ETO before?I did Il Tabarro and Gianni Schicchi, Fantastic Mister Fox, Pagliacci and La Clemenza di Tito. My favourite was Il Tabarro and Gianni Schicchi done as a double bill.

The stage and piano rehearsal of the Emperor of Atlantis is the first time that the cast, set, music and costumes come together. It is a big day for designer Neil Irish and after the rehearsal, I quizzed him on how he created a visual for such an abstract opera.

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‘We wanted to incorporate circus

references, but also burlesque and a poor

theatre aesthetic.’

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‘Death is probably the most interesting

because of all the baggage that comes

with it.’

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A Conversation withSoprano Paula Sides is one of English Touring Opera’s most recognisable faces, having worked with the company on no less than six productions since 2009, including The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro and Xerxes.

Here she talks about how the opera, written in the Terezin concentration camp, is a life-affirming and at times humorous exploration of some of the big questions in life.

Paula Sides | The Emperor of Atlantis

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Paula Sides

She now plays Bubikopf in ETO’s Autumn 2012 production The Emperor of Atlantis, which she is finding one of the most inspiring roles of her career.

Paula is Jewish, and, in this second clip, explains how she is thrilled to be in a production that is helping keep alive the music written in Terezin.

Paula Sides | Ullmannʼs Legacy

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Albert Herringby Benjamin Britten

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How did you feel when you were cast?It was probably the most exciting feeling I have ever felt. I had just been at a rehearsal of Sweeney Todd in Cirencester and I had been waiting quite a while to hear back. When I got home, mum said we have champagne on ice tonight and i was like why? and she said i got the part. So we all went completely crazy, we went out for dinner and we went nuts, it was so exciting

So is this the first big opera you have been involved in?Yes, this is one of the first. I did The Turn of the Screw in Mexico last year, but that had quite a small cast. This is the first time I have performed professionally in this country.

Can you tell us a bit about the character you are playing?Emmie is, we think, about 14 years old. She is very mischievous and is the leader of the group of children. She leads them astray!

Do you think you are personally quite like Emmie?Not even a little bit! I’m a bit of a goody two shoes and it has always been impossible to lead me down the wrong path, so it is quite fun being the rebellious one.

What do you think is Emmie’s greatest moment in the opera?I think when she comes into the shop to see Albert in the first act. Albert was in a little world of his own and its quite a serious moment. Emmie

comes in completely unawares that anything happening and she just goes off on this tangent as if anyone actually cares. That is actually quite like me!

Have rehearsals been fun so far?Rehearsals have been fantastic. The cast has also been fantastic. We have worked really hard, but ever felt stressed out.

Are you excited about the tour?I am really excited about the tour. I was terrified about going around on my own for the first time, and not being with my parents. But having met everyone I feel really comfortable and really excited to just go out and do it!

Interview with Erin HughesSoprano Erin Hughes talks about her part in ETO's Albert Herring and her excitement for the Autumn 2012 tour.

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Act 1, Scene 1, and the question on everybody’s lips in Albert Herring is who should be May Queen. The scene is effectively a committee meeting, a means to an end, lacking much physical stage drama. I was slightly disappointed: I had wanted to take some photographs of dramatic facial expressions, I had wanted to hear more about director Chris Rolls’ imaginative vision, his quirky characterisations.

I had clearly underestimated the cast! While the semi-circle in which they were sitting (for rehearsal only) was quite reminiscent of a village gathering, energy levels were as high as ever, truly the “living drama” that conductor Michael Rosewell had expressed a desire for (and that was before the trials of such a notoriously difficult score started to take their toll…). I also managed to capture a fair few fabulous faces .

Rolls had previously encouraged the cast to think about their characters’ backgrounds: who exactly are they speaking to, even during the aforementioned colloquial exchange? What happened at last month’s committee meeting? After these questions were taken into consideration, the vocal effect was on the one hand friendly banter, and on the other, competition between characters pressured to impress Lady Billows with a suitable May Queen.

No Red Herring : Choosing the

May Queen

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Rolls also pointed out that although Albert Herring, characteristically of a Britten opera, deals with society’s reaction to an individual, the characters within society as a whole are all individuals too. They root for different May Queens and are only united, in vocal homophony, when it transpires that there is no “winner”, because Budd has preposterously suggested that “Herring’s the name and Herring’s the lad”. Therefore, the cast must strive towards individual identities for their characters and endeavour to portray them on stage.

I couldn’t help thinking about Britten’s own intentions though. Can a theatrical character really possess a profound background? Crozier’s libretto tells the tale of a simple yet virtuous village boy who is crowned May King after his female compatriots don’t make the cut, but gives us little deeper indication. The original source, Maupassant’s novella Le Rosier de Madame Husson, is little better. The audience, by way of the director, must interpret their own character backgrounds if they so wish. And that’s only if they believe that fictional characters can be more than two dimensional stereotypes

Intern Verity Bramson talks about her experiences behind the scenes of Albert Herring

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No Red Herrings: Balance and “Bananarmageddon”

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Day two of rehearsals for ETO’s autumn production of Britten’s Albert Herring. Act

1, Scene 2. Herring (Mark Wilde), disillusioned by the monotony of a life working in the grocer’s is about to be interrupted by Emmie (Erin Hughes), entering in a whirlwind of hormones and non-sensical rattling.

I am particularly struck by the fluid approach that the whole Herring team have towards the rehearsal process. Balance is key: friendliness and professionalism, a

relaxed atmosphere tempered with the utmost efficiency. Neither pushy nor dictatorial, the strength of Chris Rolls’ directorship lies with his ability to take inspiration from the intuitive reactions of his talented cast: A-Level-fresh Hughes

absentmindedly plaiting her hair during a moment of respite prompts a “Girls in Topshop” characterisation of Emmie. Rolls is also very aware of the indications for

gesture and emotion inherent in Britten’s score, and the intelligent cast never miss a beat (if you’ll pardon the pun) when picking up on the composer’s intentions.

Constant referral to the score does not inhibit the agency for individual

interpretation, though. Rolls’ prowess here really comes to light when dealing with the interactions between characters. This is particularly noticeable in the latter

part of the scene and the rapport between Florence Pike (Rosie Aldridge) and Mrs Herring (Clarissa Meek). Rolls envisages “a touch of Miss Marple” in Pike’s entrance and avoids the obsequious in his interpretation of Mrs Herring’s small-

talk. Instead, latent tension presides, as well as an equal helping of assertive defence on the part of both feisty mezzos. The characterisations of both Herring

and Emmie are similarly enhanced by a reading between both the literary and musical lines. Humour and depth of character exist simultaneously as the virtuous Herring becomes a petulant teenager, subverting the expectation that Emmie

would be the one to add a touch of the adolescent.

Indeed, this is reflected in the staging: “Ten minutes in and we’ve already got a

banana gag”, laughs Wilde to Jennifer Rhys-Davies (Lady Billows) during the tea break. The ascent of a particularly climactic phrase had prompted him, pent up with Herring’s frustration at his lot in life, to reach for the nearest prop, the

aggressive crushing of a banana becoming symbolic of Herring’s resentful attitude towards working at the grocers. “Bananarmageddon!” exclaims Rolls, the tricky

logistics of making a banana comically pop out of its skin having been resolved by conductor Michael Rosewell’s suggestion of a compulsory banana workshop.

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On the opening night of Herring I was lucky enough to

meet many of our lovely audience members, one of

whom told me a story about the opera’s first ever tour.

A friend of his, who had sadly just passed away, was

playing the part of Cis – one of the children in the opera. 

Cis is joined by Emmie and Harry to form the 3-strong

gang of local kids who relish in taunting Albert.

Britten himself conducted the first tour.  At each venue a

local boy played the part of Harry (just like in our current

ETO tour).  However, on one memorable night the boy

playing Harry was unwell.  So, without a cover, the girls

playing Cis and Emmie had to make do – singing his

music and making up for his absence.  All was going well,

until the moment when Harry was meant to climb over a

door singing ‘mind my trousers!’.  Already half way over

the door and wearing a white dress, the girl playing Cis

was momentarily stumped by the line. She then got an

idea, shouting ‘mind my knickers!’, much to the dismay of

Benjamin Britten. Fortunately she brought the house

down!

For ETO’s autumn tour, Emily-Jane Thomas (opposite) is

playing the part of Cis. Lets hope she had an easier job

of it!

‘Mind my Knickers!’

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Peter Maxwell DaviesThe Lighthouse

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One of the most exciting things about The

Lighthouse is the real life mystery that hangs

over the action. The suspicious disappearance

of three lighthouse keepers in the winter of

1900 remains an unsolved mystery. Peter

Maxwell Davies’s score is a response to this

enigma.

At its core, the opera is a thriller. The darkly

twisted premise is matched only by the

intensity of the music. The main act of the

opera shows Davies’s dramatic reconstruction

of what could have occurred on that winter

night. Today, however, I saw rehearsals for the

prologue. The libretto for this section has been

taken verbatim from the sailors who discovered

the lighthouse – the table laid up for dinner, yet

the keepers had vanished without a trace. But

it is not as simple as that. It soon becomes

apparent that something is amiss and the lies of

the sailors get woven into the secrets of the

keepers. This ambiguity between truth and

falsehood, remarks director Ted Huffman, is

the driving force of the opera. Jumping

between different times, places and tones, the

prologue must be a daunting scene for any

director, and I was excited to see what Ted

would make of it.

It was, therefore, unsurprising that the

atmosphere in Huffman’s rehearsal room is one

of absolute focus as he prised apart this

musical montage. He led the cast through the

complex score, revealing an alarmingly human

dialogue at the core of the opera. Ted muses

that whilst the form of Davies’s score is

abstract, the narrative remains clear and

defined. It is this approach that really shows

Huffman as a dramaturge – a director

concerned with theatrics, storytelling and

movement whilst being guided by the music. It

was a joy to watch him bring out the story in

Davies’s deeply unsettling score and even in the

sunny tranquillity of Toynbee Studios, the

show is already starting to make me feel

nervous.

I am desperate to know what he has in store for

us tomorrow as the second act starts to take

shape. A sly glint in Ted’s eye suggests that he

has big plans, but you will just have to wait

until opening night to find out what happens…

The Myth of a Lighthouse

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