Delightful, the way Paolo Carignani immediately draws us into the ominous atmosphere of Verdi's Macbeth. The prelude sounds compelling and concise, with sharp rhythm and bold pauses. The overture to a performance in which the orchestra makes you feel in every fibre of their interpretation what a masterpiece the Italian composer distilled from Shakespeare's play. The same tension was not conveyed by Michael Thalheimer's direction. After his productions of La Forza del destino and Otello, Opera Vlaanderen unleashed him once again on a masterfully dramatic Verdi.
Thalheimer confines himself to the admittedly original but monotonous and awkward to navigate set. A tall black pit with walls like skateboard ramps forms the space for the story. The singers must repeatedly "slide" down from the top edge of the pit onto the stage. It must be a physical task for the soloists to make the movement down and up, via the more or less visible support points on the walls. That back and forth also creates a form of tedium, although that top edge does have a meaningful function now and then.
For the witches, for example. As spirits, they oversee the situation from above and their predictions are even more mysterious. The motley crew of blonde-wigged witches, like living painted Barbie dolls, stands out starkly against the black stage wall. Even as they tumble downward, they are a bizarre troupe of eccentrics, who certainly come across as the unreal and otherworldly beings as Verdi wanted them. With their strange predictions, they sing the story straight into the abyss. The choir sings beautifully, as always, and a good idea of Thalheimer's is to let one witch occasionally perform solo in a scene: as if she wants to carefully follow whether events are faithfully unfolding according to their prophecy. She is also indicated in the cast as "Una strega" (Laura Gils). A clever detail, certainly inspired by Verdi's assertion that the witches play the role of main character.
Just too demanding
Russian mezzo Marina Prudenskaya was well cast as an actress as Lady Macbeth. In her beautiful black dress, she looks slim and majestic. She behaves confidently and authoritatively. The determination sounds convincing in her great aria in the first act (Vieni t'affretta), but even there you can hear that the part demands just a bit too much of her vocal strength. In La luce langue, in which she looks forward to the second murder, her voice has to contend with the very expressive orchestration of the aria. Her signature aria in the sleepwalking scene of the third act, Una macchia è qui tuttora, in which she tries to wipe away the blood of the murders, is just too demanding. It is a tense, long melodic line like an inner monologue with sudden shifts between the highest and lowest notes of the singer, in the lamenting tone beautifully supported by the cor anglais. Here and there too difficult a task for Prudenskaya, resulting in a few painfully pinched sounds. Here too, the top edge of the set takes on scenic significance: Lady Macbeth appears there with soft candlelight, la lampada che sempre si tiene accanto al letto (- her bedside lamp - lady-in-waiting's text). That entrance in her black dress against an equally black background is one of the most beautiful images of the performance. It emphasizes the isolation and distress of the frustrated woman.
The male protagonists, with Macbeth at the forefront, deliver an excellent vocal performance. This applies to the leading roles down to the smaller roles of Macduff (tenor Najmiddin Mavlyanov) who sang a beautiful O figli, o figli miei and Malcolm (Michael J. Scott). Tareq Nazmi was also vocally impressive as Banco. Craig Colclough (Macbeth) sang his part with an impressive yet nuanced voice. His dark timbre fits perfectly with the gloomy fate that befalls him under the impulse of his power-hungry wife. Their relationship is anything but one that radiates love, and his voice is therefore determined mainly by strength and fear. Bizarre were the puppet-like gestures in their duet at the end of the third act. The horror for each other is emphasized by the terrible bloodstains that cover Macbeth since he committed the murder of Duncan. The murdered Banco is even more covered in blood when he appears as a ghost at the banquet. A kitschy exaggeration. Moreover, this scene, with its lavish scattering of streamers, is rather a carnivalesque tableau. The terrifying madness that grips Macbeth at that moment through remorse is completely undermined. An unfortunately failed scene.
From this Macbeth at Opera Vlaanderen, we will remember most the magnificent performance of the orchestra under the direction of Paolo Carignani and the fine vocal performances of the male protagonists. Although the staging reflects the somber mood of the drama, it is too limiting because of the set and especially ridiculous because of the excessive blood.
- WHAT: Macbeth | Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
- DIRECTION: Michael Thalheimer
- VOICES: Craig Colclough, Marina Prudenskaya, Tareq Nazmi, Najmiddin Mavlyanov, Michael J. Scott
- ORCHESTRA: Symfonisch Orkest en Koor van Opera Vlaanderen conducted by Paolo Carignani
- WHERE: Opera Vlaanderen, Antwerpen
- WHEN: Thursday 27 June 2019 (also on 2, 4 and 6 July – next season in Gent)
- PHOTO: © Annemie Augustijns