Rhondda Rips It Up!
Welsh National Opera’s latest commission is a song-and-dance suffragette celebration. Composer Elena Langer tells John-Paul Davies about the opera that’s not really an opera and what it’s like working on an all-women team.
Margaret Haig Thomas, or Lady Rhondda, tore up the rulebook on what-a-titled-lady-should-do at the turn of the last century. To bring about the beginnings of women’s rights in the UK she jumped on top of the then-PM’s car, planned chemical attacks, spent time in prison and bought back her freedom through hunger strikes. Rhondda certainly ripped things up! Perfect dramatic material for the stage. But for an opera?
Well, Welsh National Opera have bravely ripped up their own rulebook and produced a vaudevillian romp that is part-opera, part-play, part-cabaret revue and all women. Composer Elena Langer tells us: “Well, it’s fun! I’ve never done it. I’ve mostly worked with men – and I’ve enjoyed that! It really doesn’t matter who you’re working with – it’s all about talent and skill and I’m lucky to have such a talented and enthusiastic chorus. they treat this material as if it’s their own.”
Langer and librettist Emma Jenkins are less invested in transmitting a feminist manifesto than celebrating an extraordinary individual’s life through words and music – but with no wrong notes. “I protested at first! Emma didn’t want ‘Ee! Ooh, Argh!’” says Langer, a contemporary composer used to writing modern scores with plenty of dissonance and discord. “But I was asked to look at the libretto and then I realised that that was what I wanted to do. Of course, I did write some ‘wrong’ notes – it’s boring without them.”
Only the occasional wrong note! Songs with tunes! Dialogue! Is Rhondda a modern opera at all? “It’s hard to define its genre. Maybe it will be easier, and less threatening if it’s not an opera.”
But there are some elements of the show that stay true to operatic sensibilities. The performers are all trained singers and there are no mics on stage. “It’s a risk, because we don’t have amplification. In your usual musical, everything would be amplified, especially if there is a kit on stage. I have clarinet and trumpet, trombone, tuba, drum kit, piano, violin, cello, double bass. And accordion, of course, my favourite instrument. It’s very much like a street band.”
Lesley Garrett plays the emcee and Madeline Shaw is Lady Rhondda herself, so the soloists are of a very high standard. But it is the WNO’s placard-waving, strong standing, suffragette chorus that Langer keeps returning to. “They’re very imaginative – they suggest such things. The other day a soprano said, ‘I love this song – I’ll play along on my guitar.’ I said, ‘Of course, go ahead’.”
The organic, spontaneous work of the cast and creatives matches the irreverent tone of the piece and the bold character of its heroine. Placard slogans have been the inspiration for songs that sound nothing like anything WNO have produced before – but in breaking new ground, there are always challenges along the way. “Chorus singers have beautiful voices, but they’re not as skilled at dialogue as drama actors. Emma and I decided that whenever there is dialogue in the piece I would underscore it.”
So the operatic underscoring is like a cushion for the spoken words. “Well, I realised – it’s a great thing – the music never stops in the show. It’s either travelling to the foreground or the background but it doesn’t stop as it would in a musical.”
That must make timing the dialogue fun. “Well, the singers need to remember which instrument plays where and when, through the process of rehearsals. And the musicians are on stage – all women, all in costume. And if they hired any men, we will dress them – we’ll give them boobs and dresses.”
Somehow, Buzz feels Lady Rhondda would approve.
Rhondda Rips It Up!, The Riverfront, Newport, Thurs 7 June (in south Wales until Fri 29 June)
Tickets: £18/£15. Info: 01633 656757 / www.wno.org.uk
Watch our promo video about Rhondda Rips It Up below
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