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A stark descent from grace
Lulu Welsh National Opera Birmingham Hippodrome **** ALBAN Berg's
Lulu
isn't going to be everybody's cup of tea. Its music is harsh, complex
and demanding. There are no pretty tunes likely to feature on an opera
greatest hits album here. And the story is equally uncompromising as we
follow Lulu's dramatic journey from rich socialite to destitute
prostitute. It is a brutal journey, littered with betrayals, death,
deception and lust with everyone tainted to some measure. This Welsh National Opera production is equally
daring. Directed by David Pountney and designed by Johan Engels, all of
the action is concentrated into the centre by a giant cage of a stage. Right from the beginning when the Animal Tamer
Master of Ceremonies drags a corpse-like Lulu before the audience we
know we are watching a spectacle. With characters' faces hidden by
intricate animal heads there is a sense of being a bystander watching a
show, a circus, a heightened reality. There are hints of surrealism throughout the
production from the Dada-inspired sculptures to Magritte like umbrella
figures. And, as animal heads change, costumes take on rainbow hues and
faces are painted in clown-like masks, the figures and action becomes
ever more bizarre. And yet at the centre are some very human
characters playing out some very human emotions. Marie Arnet is very
powerful as Lulu. She succeeds in being sensuous at the same time as
totally cold, tempting at the same time as repelling and cunning while
also having a touch of the naïve about her. Everyone is drawn to her like a moth to a flame
and everyone who gets too close – or in fact gets even remotely close -
risks being burnt. Although Paul Carey Jones was taking on the role
of Dr Schon at short notice in Birmingham there was no hint of
uncertainty in his performance as the doctor who is reduced from
powerful to powerless by Lulu's tricks. Peter Hoare balances gullibility with guile as
his son Alwa while Natascha Petrinsky is the perfect foil to Lulu –
totally loyal right through to the end. There is plenty of dark humour here and the
production ensures there are also some lighter moments, not least from
Julian Close as the infatuated Acrobat and Anitra Blaxhall as the
love-struck Student. But at no point do WNO shy away from the stark
reality of Lulu's fate – with the final scene stunning in its simplicity
and cruelty. Conducted by Lothar Koenigs, the orchestra rise
to the challenge of Berg's score. Lulu may not be everyone's cup of tea
but this production certainly shows how imaginatively it can be staged. Diane Parkes
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