Some people pine, others do the whole ruddy forest. Such a chap is Werther, Goethe’s suicidal lover who inspired a Romantic generation. Massenet’s take on the tale, so often floaty and dull, is given a makeover of expressionist seriousness in Aylin Bozok’s production.
Bozok circumvents this opera’s weakness (no real story) by making its psychological tensions manifest. Thus, an opera replete with visions of birds and spring gets an empty white set. Pianist MD Phillip Voldman plays the overture over a dumb show in which the whole casts get aggravated for little reason. To remind us that Charlotte (Werther’s beloved) has been betrothed elsewhere by her mother, the matriarch’s ghost, Memento Mary, occasionally wanders the stage silently, scaring her daughter into annoying fidelity.
Katie Bray is a superb Charlotte in her third act aria. Adam Tunnicliffe’s Werther has intensity and summons moments of grace but will also bellow for long passages: not pleasant in a small space. Lucy Knight is a charming little sister Sophie and her light, airy interventions are sweetly sung.
The intensity exhausts by the end, when curtains are being torn and everyone has been in torment for 25 minutes. But it’s a fair price for vitality.
Until Sat Aug 23 (020 7503 1646, arcolatheatre.com)
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