‘whilst it’s a tough watch, vocally at least it’s a great listen’
With recent voices suggesting opera is outdated or irrelevant, much is made of the operas of George Benjamin and Martin Crimp bringing it in to the 21st C, yet on the basis of Tatjana Gürbaca’s production, it feels somewhat more dragged than thrust.
The theme is taken from ‘Le Coeur mangé’, a famous medieval legend taken up by Giovanni Boccaccio in his infamous Decameron written in the mid 14th C. Divided into fifteen scenes played across ninety minutes without an interval and performed in English with English and German surtitles, the Protector (Bo Skovhus) is a rich landowner who pays the Boy (Iurii Iushkevich) to create and illustrate a book about his life. The Boy and the Protector’s wife, Agnès (Elizabeth Reiter), are attracted to each other, and when the Protector discovers her newly awakened independence, he murders the Boy and forces her to unwillingly eat his heart. With Angels (Cecelia Hall; Michael McCown; Iushkevich) looking on and commenting throughout from a modern-day perspective, can Agnès find any remaining solace on earth?
With Gürbaca’s surrealist staging difficult to access, Klaus Grünberg’s lighting somewhat contrived, and Silke Willrett’s costumes spanning the medieval to the present, it is hard to fathom where they want us to be, other than the obvious climate references and a disdain of humanity present in the libretto. Throw in a crashing passenger plane, three earths rising in the background, and a sharp, raked, triangulated polished metal stage and the subdued audience applause at the end felt more of a relief than a celebration.
Well at least it was consistent with Benjamin’s unforgiving musical dissonance which is similarly hard to fathom and engage with and conductor Erik Nielsen leading the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra was certainly not going to let us off the hook with his focus on emphasising extremes and an absence of any subtlety which made it hard on the ear.
There is a good tale here, with much relevance to modern day societal values and control, particularly of women, but it is one to be shown not told and Crimp’s continual narration by the characters itself gets in the way of any fluidity.
So, is there anything left to like? Well thankfully the vocalists do get to grips with the task at hand, so whilst it’s a tough watch, vocally at least it’s a great listen, with Skovhus’ powerful portrayal of the Protector demonstrating a subtle brutality that goes a long way to explaining behaviours at the core of this piece.
Iushkevich’s vocal with it’s high countertenor felt otherworldly with a skilled acting performance, whilst Hall and McCown performed strongly as Angels and other ensemble roles.
Reiter has the most demanding role as her character goes full circle from downtrodden wife to a confident woman comfortable expressing her sexuality, and she had the vocal versatility to match combined with impressive acting that underscored the emotional turmoil combined with abandoned release.
If I had one other frustration tonight it was with the audience: it was apparent many were not getting to grips with it including the gentleman sat next to me who continually looked at his watch willing it to end, yet at curtain call he was wildly applauding and crying out, ‘bravo’. It explains why press are often invited to guest nights but it does little to improve an art form and make it accessible to all.
Review Date: 5th April 2026
Star Rating: THREE