Bach Street’s Back
Image: The Sydney Chamber Opera must be congratulated for their courage in staging a confronting and original opera despite being banned from other Sydney venues. The opera is not suitable for people under the age of 15 or the faint hearted.
Bold statements and controversy take centre stage in the Sydney Chamber Opera’s third and final production of 2011: I have had enough. This opera beckons a brave audience.
Deemed unsuitable for people under the age of 15 or the faint hearted, I have had enough is a confronting and original opera which has found a home at NIDA’s Parade Playhouse, despite being banned from other Sydney venues. The exclusive season runs from November 26-30, 2011.
The opera delicately weaves J S Bach’s Cantata No. 82 “Ich Habe Geung”, Musical Director Jack Symonds’ response “Nunc Dimittis”and T. S Eliot’s “A Song for Simeon” to tell a ghoulish tale of power, religion and gender. As the fugue between the songs unfolds, the mood becomes sombre, faith is shattered and death seems inescapable.
I have had enough is an artistically simple opera. The clever employment of minor props and simple set design creates a profound symbolism when clean white linen is befouled with mud, blood and cake. Long chains of oppression erode the dirt stage and human entrails induce squeamish laughs in a tense audience.
Opera singers Anna Dowsley and Mitchell Riley move the opera along with cunning, menacing characters reminiscent of Guy Fawkes. Mitchell Riley’s devilish mannerisms create an alluring performance.
Conductor Huw Belling hypnotises his audience as high pitch violins wreak havoc on fluttering pulses.
Sydney Chamber Opera’s artistic director Louis Garrick was asked after the first performance, “How do you sleep at night?”
Garrick responded; “I don’t.”
By Cassie Byrnes
