Empire Theatre, Eden Court, Inverness, 8 November 2012

AS THE ultimate art form, opera has a tradition of incorporating symbolism and disguised meanings into every new production as each director releases his (and in this case, as will become clear, I use the word “his” deliberately) own interpretation onto a voracious public.

SCOTTISH Opera’s seventh production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute since 1970 is directed by Sir Thomas Allen and is as different from the last version that came to Inverness as can be imagined. Even so his reputation has been established by his two previous Scottish Opera productions, resulting in sell-out audiences in Eden Court’s Empire Theatre for both performances.

Peter Van Hulle (Monostatos), Richard Burkhard (Papageno) & Laura Mitchell (Pamina) in Scottish Opera's The Magic Flute (photo Ken Dundas)

If only there was a way for the programme book to be made available before the opera-goer arrives at the theatre so that the essays can be read and the symbolism and disguised meanings can be appreciated during the performance rather than enlightenment occurring over a nightcap after the return home (you can pre-order one – see Scottish Opera website – Ed.).

An hour or so after the curtain falls is a bit late to realise that the two arc-shaped moveable sections of the set, marked “Nature” and “Wisdom”, were inspired by the anatomical lecture theatres of the 19th century medical school coupled with the library shelves of knowledge and the furnaces of the Industrial Revolution.
Sir Thomas Allen and his design team of Simon Higlett and Mark Jonathan decided to set this Magic Flute in the industrial centres of Victorian Glasgow while tipping their hats to steampunk.

I didn’t know what it was either, but a read of the appropriate page on Wikipedia and suddenly everything came together and made sense. It explained the outrageous costumes; it explained the copious billowing of smoke and steam; it explained why male members of the chorus were following proceedings from elevated viewing terraces like crows on a fence.

The other unseen hero of this production is Kit Hesketh-Harvey, perhaps best known as half of Kit and The Widow, who made such a brilliant translation into English of the original German libretto of Emanuel Schikaneder. The words fitted the music; the rhyming was maintained; the humour was so much deeper than the German penchant for surface slapstick. He made so much capital from the stereotypical male chauvinism as gradually over the course of the opera female emancipation came to the fore.

At the end, Tamino and Pamina went together, hand in hand, through the trials of fire and water, and Papageno and Papagena shared the parental duties as their ever increasing flock was wheeled around in a convoy of Fabergé influenced egg-shaped prams.

Technically The Magic Flute is a fairytale singspiel rather than an opera, but in fact it turns out more like a pantomime where good triumphs over evil and, as in all good pantomimes, the baddies get the best parts. Nicky Spence as Tamino, a prince on a gap year trying to find himself, and Laura Mitchell as Pamina, the daughter of the Queen of The Night, are both dressed in the white of purity, singing and acting perfectly as they are taken down the path to eternal love and virtue. But surely in real life they cannot be that two-dimensional! The Three Boys, drawn from the ranks of the National Youth Choir of Scotland, and again all in white, spend most of their time suspended in mid-air like angels, drawn to good deeds like Boy Scouts on Bob-A-Job Week.

But it was those dressed in black that had most of the fun. The Three Ladies, Claire Watkins, Rachel Hynes and Louise Collett, oozed lascivious thoughts of what they would like to do with the unconscious Tamino and at the same time arrange for his delivery to Pamina after he has become besotted with her picture in a locket. They earned innumerable Brownie points for being able to produce such memorable sounds considering the eye-watering shapes they were forced into by steampunk corsets holding them in place. And what about their boss, the Queen of The Night, outrageously attired and played by the Japanese soprano Mari Moriya, hitting every top C to perfection as she plotted her evil revenge on Jonathan Best as Sarastro, the wisdom-fuelled leader of the sinister Masonic style order.

Then there is the real star of the show, Richard Burkhard as Papageno, birdcatcher to the Queen of The Night. He is neither good nor evil – just a bit mischievous as sidekick to Tamino while all the time seeking his Papagena, even when he wanders off the straight and narrow to indulge in a little product placement for Scotland’s other national drink! His performance had a distinct edge of Monty Python and he even managed to look a bit like Eric Idle. His joy at finding and settling down with his dream chick most certainly had him looking on the bright side of life.

Keeping the whole evening on the boil was the young German conductor Ekhart Wycik who is developing an excellent reputation throughout much of Europe and the USA ever since his appointments as Chief Conductor at Dortmund State Opera and as Principal Guest Conductor of Wichita Grand Opera in Kansas. The Orchestra of Scottish Opera have only worked with him once before, and that was in a concert setting, but obviously they get on well as there was a good rapport between conductor, players and singers.

The Magic Flute is the third opera directed by Sir Thomas Allen for Scottish Opera, following on the heels of The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro. There is a thread of continuity that runs through all three in the distinctive Allen touch, a touch that can only come from a singer who has performed all these works at the highest level before crossing to the other side of the desk. Only the bosses at Scottish Opera know if there are any more to come, or was there a bit of symbolism and disguised meaning as the curtain came down on Papageno and Papagena and their clutch of Papagenettes?

© James Munro, 2012

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