Edward Rushton, Dagny Gioulani: The Shops, The Opera Group, Oxford Playhouse, 7 October 2007.
For the eclectic opera goer, the Oxford Playhouse offers a great service by providing a showcase for touring companies performing small-scale operas by living composers. The list of operas seen in this way, mainly on Sunday evenings over the past thirteen years, is impressive and has left many abiding memories. My list includes Peter Maxwell Davies, The Lighthouse (seen in 1994), Nigel Osborne, the then topical Sarajevo (1994), The Electrification of the Soviet Union, (2002) and (with Amanda Holden), The Piano Tuner (2004), Harrison Birtwhistle’s terrifying Punch and Judy (1998), Thomas Adès’ early Powder her Face (1999) (based on a celebrated sixties sex scandal) and Judith Weir, Blond Ekbert (2006). (The last work, a heavily symbolic account of claustrophobic relationships, left me completely without words when I attempted to review it!)
These works have a lot in common, bearing the same relation to full-scale operas that novellas do to novels. In my campaign to make clear to potential audiences what they should expect in the theatre from a particular production, I should like to coin the word ‘operlet’. They are not ‘chamber operas’, being performed in theatres fully staged, but neither are they full operas being accompanied by a small group of instruments. As a genre they differ in several respects from operas. Foremost, I would put the importance of the words to tell a story and present the ideas. Thus, in contrast to true operas in which the music predominates as the conveyer of feelings and emotion, in operlets the music has to be subservient to the communication of the text. In an opera heard for the first time one concentrates on the music; in operlets one strives to follow what is being sung; the music sets the atmosphere and supports the singers. This seems to be implicitly realised by the composer. In all the performances cited above there has been no problem in following the plot. This is aided by the fact that such works are usually lightly scored for the instrumental ensemble.
The Shops is a worthy addition to the genre. Composed by Edward Rushton in close collaboration with the librettist Dagny Gioulami, it was produced in Oxford by their theOperagroup and directed by the Company’s artistic director John Fulljames. The theme is ‘collecting’ in all its aspects, epitomised by the linking story line of a thieving stamp-collector aided and abetted by his shopaholic girl friend. The decor (designed by Soutra Gilmour) consists of a multi-coloured collection of shopping carrier bags, moved around to represent the various locations – museums, shops, offices, magistrates’ courts. The operlet is performed by a group of six singers each playing several roles. The musical accompaniment is by violin, cello, bass, five clarinets and percussion which provide a transparent background enabling the singers to project their words with utmost clarity. The thought-provoking message is that we are all collectors in one form or another, with varying degrees of obsession; each can identify with at least one character! A brilliant Sunday evening’s light entertainment – almost a minor masterpiece.
These works have a lot in common, bearing the same relation to full-scale operas that novellas do to novels. In my campaign to make clear to potential audiences what they should expect in the theatre from a particular production, I should like to coin the word ‘operlet’. They are not ‘chamber operas’, being performed in theatres fully staged, but neither are they full operas being accompanied by a small group of instruments. As a genre they differ in several respects from operas. Foremost, I would put the importance of the words to tell a story and present the ideas. Thus, in contrast to true operas in which the music predominates as the conveyer of feelings and emotion, in operlets the music has to be subservient to the communication of the text. In an opera heard for the first time one concentrates on the music; in operlets one strives to follow what is being sung; the music sets the atmosphere and supports the singers. This seems to be implicitly realised by the composer. In all the performances cited above there has been no problem in following the plot. This is aided by the fact that such works are usually lightly scored for the instrumental ensemble.
The Shops is a worthy addition to the genre. Composed by Edward Rushton in close collaboration with the librettist Dagny Gioulami, it was produced in Oxford by their theOperagroup and directed by the Company’s artistic director John Fulljames. The theme is ‘collecting’ in all its aspects, epitomised by the linking story line of a thieving stamp-collector aided and abetted by his shopaholic girl friend. The decor (designed by Soutra Gilmour) consists of a multi-coloured collection of shopping carrier bags, moved around to represent the various locations – museums, shops, offices, magistrates’ courts. The operlet is performed by a group of six singers each playing several roles. The musical accompaniment is by violin, cello, bass, five clarinets and percussion which provide a transparent background enabling the singers to project their words with utmost clarity. The thought-provoking message is that we are all collectors in one form or another, with varying degrees of obsession; each can identify with at least one character! A brilliant Sunday evening’s light entertainment – almost a minor masterpiece.