Slingsby. Her Majesty's Theatre. 26 Apr 2013
It may be the grandest grand mal ever staged. Edward Lear convulses on the stage before being raised high in the air amid a shatter and scatter of exploding stars. And, there he hangs, limp and death-like in the spotlight until he can resume his place in the normal world. Not that the world was normal for Edward Lear. He was the grand master of the nonsensical as well as a writer, traveller, and artist. Theory has it that epilepsy was pivotal to his creative impetus. Certainly it was bold and right for Andy Packer's Slingsby team to give it dramatic focus in a production that is simply not like anything else. Ode to Nonsense is an opera for the family.
Lear's writings long have had high currency among children - beginning with The Owl and the Pussycat. So the production features lots of children - swarming, dancing, their faces adorned in masks reminiscent of Lear illustrations.
The lighting draws them from sinister to exuberant, depending on the hallucinatory mindspace of their creator. Indeed, one could describe it as a mood play, so much does it wheel through the psychological peculiarities of the man. Hence, Geoff Cobham's design is dominated by half-light. Indeed, it really is quite dark. With the wondrous flying hedge aloft and the singing swarms in the shadowy below, there's a sense of peeping through a crack into the imagination of the troubled man.
Circus acts spin and dart, their dark world alleviated by the glories of Illuminart's projections; Cindi Drennan's animations of Lear line drawings scrawl and crawl across a night sky. Then there are the magical stars, once seen, never to be forgotten. But, of all the technical thrills, it is birds which make one smile and marvel - vividly colourful birds of light, emerging from a suitcase and spreading out across the stage on flags held by the protagonists. Lear was renowned for his bird illustrations.
Lear is fleshed out by the padded form of Nicholas Lester, a towering baritone who manages to gently drench the character in pathos. One may suspect the directorial hand of Andy Packer in this interpretation since it aligns with Packer's vision of a man who’s left us a legacy of timelessly diverting and engaging absurdity from a life blighted by epilepsy, shyness and doomed relationships. Lester taps it nicely.
Popular Adelaide soprano Johanna Allen provides warm and quirky presence as Lear's beloved Gussie - her strident costume a comic statement in itself. She brings joie de vivre and spirited acting skills beyond the sweet voice. But it is the prismatic presence of Adam Goodburn as the trusty retainer Giorgio who brings brightest life to the stage, cavorting and clowning and even doing a laudable job as a horse.
The singing is strong, the harmonies often lovely. The show rides along to the undulations of Quincy Grant's music. It's an opera, not a musical. The Jane Goldney libretto must be discerned from the rigours of operatic delivery - not always easily. The orchestral layers are exquisite, full of trilling adornments and, dare one say, prettiness. The narrative melodies are made of sterner stuff, strong with reiteration which, come the very last and best tune, has the audience happily humming its way out of the theatre.
Slingsby may pop a feather in the cap for the scale and originality of this work. The absurdity of opera married to the nonsense of Lear - so mad it might just work.
Samela Harris
When: 26 Apr to May 4
Where: Her Majesty’s Theatre
Bookings: bass.net.au
