An opera that’s ready to rumble at the Pavilion Theatre
A new production of The Return of Ulysses puts a modern twist on the Venetian classic, writes Cathy DesmondA new production of The Return of Ulysses puts a modern twist on the Venetian classic, writes
There are thunderbolts and lightning and the Gods are reinstated in the heavens in a new production of The Return of Ulysses by Monteverdi by Opera Collective Ireland.
The production was one of the headline events at the Kilkenny Arts Festival, where the event marked a significant first for Irish opera.
Kilkenny has mounted terrific concert performances at recent festivals but this was the first staging of an opera by the festival. It was also the first staged performance of the work in Ireland, a dream of outgoing artistic director Eugene Downes and an ideal vehicle for OCI looking for work to showcase a large ensemble of young Irish singers.
Critics and fans had been thrilled with director Patrick Mason’s stylish production of The Marriage of Figaro that set the bar high for the newly launched Irish National Opera last year. Much feted during his long career in Irish theatre, his many accolades include a Tony award for the Abbey production of Dancing at Lughnasa on Broadway.
For Mason, The Return of Ulysses presented a fresh challenge to bring a work conceived for 17th century Venetian Carnival revellers to life for a 21st Irish audience.
The Return of Ulysses is based on Homer’s ancient Greek epic, The Odyssey. It tells the story of the eponymous hero’s return from the Trojan Wards to the island kingdom of Ithaca where his patient wife Penelope has a house full of pesky suitors eating her out of house and home and vying for her attention.
Ulysses survives his encounters with the Gods to return and vanquish the suitors and be reconciled with his wife.
“It is a great big sprawling epic story and that is how we are doing it.” says Mason who radiates an infectious enthusiasm for the work.
Join us on September 7th and 8th at the @PavilionTheatre for the final two performances of #TheReturnofUlysses. Tickets are flying so book early to avoid disappointment. https://t.co/wSCjZaYZJB Photographs: @Marshall_Light #Opera pic.twitter.com/NpHQdeqs7v
— Opera Collective Irl (@OperaCoIreland) August 28, 2018
He sets the action on two levels of Paul Keogan’s steel lighting rig set with the performers scrambling between the two levels.
“It is a very physical production. It wasn’t written for a posh court theatre but a commercial theatre a bit like Mozart’s Magic Flute. It’s got comedy, drama, tragedy, a bit of knockabout and really good storytelling.”
The work was revived last year for the Royal Opera House at the Round House in London. The musical
director for that production Christian Curnyn joins the creative team but this production takes a very different approach. Mason explains.
“In London they didn’t use any of the scenes with the Gods so those scenes weren’t tanslated. We went back to the translator (Christopher Cowell) and worked with him on those scenes The way we’ve angled the production and edited the text is to highlight the two storylines; war in heaven, war on earth, peace in heaven and peace on earth.
“There is the working out of the vendetta between Minerva and Neptune and the reconciliation of Ulysses and Penelope. The two stories move in parallell and each affect each other. There can’t be peace in heaven until there is peace on earth.I like the double vision of the story and that’s why I wanted to reinstate the Gods.”
Mason sets the action in a 20th century wartime. In order to reinforce the link between text and music, he seats the strings and continuo of Akademie of Musik Berlin around the stage.
Mason enthuses about thunder runs and machines of the Baroque theatre and is working with sound engineer Dernis Clohessy.
“We’ve used modern technology to create a wonderful climate sequence of thunder and dramatic effects. There are storms, shipwrecks and Jove’s thunderbolt. We’re just taking a leaf out of the Venetian theatre book. I thought we’d add some special effects of our own to cheer people up.”
Homer may nod but not on Mason’s watch!
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