Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
The Welsh National Opera’s adaptation of David Jones’ epic First World War poem, In Parenthesis, not only marks their 70th anniversary with the world première of a new opera, but also the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, a name which, like Ypres, Passchendaele and Verdun still evokes hellish images. Like the vast majority of battles in the First World War, unlike other infamous battles like Wellington, Cannae, and Bryn Glas, the Battle of the Somme wasn’t a daylong affair. It lasted from July to November, and was more a series of battles than a single battle. The subject of In Parenthesis is the Battle of Mametz Wood, a pyrrhic victory for the Welsh Regiment, where 4000 men died to take a small wood from the Germans. After the Somme, British and French forces had penetrated just 6 miles into German territory at a cost of nearly 500,000 British men, 250,000 Frenchmen, and 250,000 Germans. No wonder then about the importance of the conflict to this day in the Welsh psyche. If an opera is to succeed when tackling this subject matter, it needs to be done respectfully, which In Parenthesis seems to be fully aware of.
In Parenthesis is quite unlike any other opera out there. Iain Bell’s adaptation tells the story of Private John Ball and his fellow soldiers in the Royal Welch Fusiliers and their fight in the Great War, mixed with elements of Welsh mythology. His division leaves for Southampton, where they cross into France to await their orders. The cast are fantastic, with Peter Coleman-Wright and Alexandra Deshorties creepily portraying the Bard of Britannia and the Bard of Germania respectively. The division is then ordered to the front, where they enter Mametz Wood. This is where the opera takes a surreal turn, with phantasmagorical tree beings plaguing the division as they panic in the violence and terror. While all the performances and costumes were excellent, what really stole the show was the innovative staging and lighting. In particular, the approaches to showing the anatomy of a trench and fighting in the wood were superb.
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The only aspect of the work that divided opinions was the score. Often with opera, you could easily just listen to the music and enjoy it on its own. After seeing an opera like Carmen or William Tell, you leave the concert hall humming the score to yourself, but the only really memorable part of In Parenthesis’s score was the inclusion of Sosban Fach; the score on its own was not strong enough to be enjoyed on its own. That being said, I feel it may have been inappropriate to have a Rossini-esque score for an opera that commemorates the loss of hundreds of thousands of people. The score did however fit the panicked emotions evoked on stage very well.
words LUKE OWAIN BOULT, photos BILL COOPER