On Monday, June 26, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich hosted operas by contemporary composer Brett Dean Hamlets premiere. It is included in the program of the Munich Opera Festival, this extensive festival traditionally closes the season of the Bavarian State Opera. This time the festival was opened on June 23 and will continue until July 31. Made by director Neil Armfield has reached the Munich stage Hamlet the production, which was performed at the Glyndebourne Festival in Great Britain in 2017, was the world premiere of this opera. Six years ago, it was conducted by the then musical leader of the Glyndebourne Festival, Vladimirs Jurovskis, and now he is returning to Brett Dean’s score as musical director of the Bavarian State Opera.
Directed by Neil Armfield, the play was played both at the Adelaide Festival in Australia and at the New York Metropolitan Opera in the US. The role of Hamlet is played everywhere – from Glyndebourne to Munich – by the colorful British tenor Alan Clayton. This part was composed for his voice and has not yet been interpreted by any other performer. At the Bavarian State Opera, Ophelia is sung by soprano Karuline Wettergren, Claudia by baritone Rod Gilfrey, Gertrude by mezzo-soprano Sofia Kos, Polonius by tenor Charles Workman, Horatio by baritone Jacques Imbraillo, Laerte by tenor Sean Panicker, Rosencrantz by countertenor Patrick Terry, Guildenstern by countertenor Christopher Lowry , the spirit of Hamlet’s father – bass John Tomlinson.
British newspaper The Guardian in the rating of the best classical music works of the 21st century by critics, published in 2019, Brett Dean Hamlets ranks 18th. Brett Dean was once the violist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, but in recent years has devoted himself to composition. He has already collaborated with the Australian director Neil Armfield on his first operas Blessing/Bliss in the production.
Neil Armfield has staged more than a hundred plays (many of them new) and more than twenty operas (Mozart, Wagner, Janáček and Britten). He has been in the Sydney theatre Company B jeb belvoir and Artistic Director of the Adelaide Festival. Cate Blanchett, Richard Roxburgh and Geoffrey Rush have starred in the director’s productions. In a film directed by Neil Armfield Candy/Candy (2006), in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, stars Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish and Geoffrey Rush.
Operas Hamlets creators of the production – conductor Vladimirs Jurovskis (from left) and director Neils Armfield. Photo – Yegor Jerohomovičs
Not long ago Hamlet of the premiere in Munich, Neil Armfield answered KDi’s questions.
The opera you staged Hamlets the world premiere took place in 2017. You return to this work regularly. How has your relationship with this production changed over time?
Each time the show was revived – in Adelaide, New York, now in Munich – Alan Clayton sang the title role. My relationship with this job would change profoundly if Alan decided he couldn’t or didn’t want to do it anymore. For now, Alan has chosen this party as his priority, although he has no shortage of other offers. I think he’s still kind of guarding and looking after the role, but at the same time he’s letting it be known that he can’t keep playing Hamlet for the rest of his life. Clearly, one day Hamlet will need another actor. This opera is important, it has already become part of the repertoire. It would be very healthy if there were productions that would interpret this work in a different way.
Interestingly, Polonius has been played by a different artist in each city in this play. It’s a role that can be both comical and quite scary. He can be stupid, but he can also be very smart. These are different ways to interpret the image. Each of the tenors has been very different. Working with Hamlet, I inevitably return to my first production of this Shakespeare play in Australia in 1994. It was a decisive moment for our theater company – Company B jeb belvoir In Sydney – in action, at that time I became its artistic director. With Hamlet we went on tour, later Cate Blanchett joined our troupe, she took over the role of Ophelia from the actress who played in the premiere. Kate was a great Ophelia.
The best show I’ve done with Cate Blanchett was Chekhov Kaija. In it, Kate played with Richard Roxburgh, who has been my Hamlet. In the seagull Kate played Nina. After Seagulls screening, the film director Jane Campion called me and said: Chekhov seems to have written this role especially for Kate. She was so expressive in this character.
Hamlets has always been particularly close to me. Shakespeare wrote this play a few years after the death of his son Hamnet. It is full of dark thoughts and sadness. Shakespeare himself is said to have played the ghost of Hamlet’s father on stage, and this is an interesting meta-theatre idea: the playwright takes on a character that largely sets the play in motion and drives the development of the plot. Hamlets is a wonderful work on art and theater. There is a certain irony in it – in life you can’t trust politicians, but you can trust actors. It is a beautiful thought that is in this play.
I have previously collaborated with composer Brett Dean on his first operas Blessing in the production. Opera Hamlets he has composed on the order of the Glyndebourne Festival, at that time the musical director of the festival was the conductor Vladimirs Jurovskis. When Brett told me he was considering composing HamletI was very pleased because I know well Hamlet essence, its internal mechanism. I was deeply involved in the creation of the work. For example, I suggested that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have great comic potential and would be interesting to play with two countertenors. Brett agreed with me. With the librettist Matthew Joslin joining us, the three of us discussed which parts of the play needed to be kept in the opera. Matthew has done a commendable job.
What will be special Hamlet production in Munich?
Ophelia is sung here by the soprano Karulíne Wettergren – she is very different from Barbara Hannigan at the Glyndebourne Festival, from Lorraine Gore at the Adelaide Festival, and from Brenda Ray at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The character played by Karulin Wettergren seems to be driven by her rational thinking. It will be fascinating to see how this Ophelia will be affected by the forces that ultimately bring her down. Everything is determined by the personality of each actor. For example, Polonius in Munich is the tenor Charles Workman, who has a very aristocratic appearance, but at the same time you can feel something evil developing in his conjured character.
How does tenor Alan Clayton’s performance in the title role change? Has his Hamlet become more mature, but perhaps more playful?
Alan has always been playful in this role. His voice sounds wonderful, it’s getting wider and more colorful. I think there are some nuances in Alan’s portrayal that we have contributed to because he is open and willing to do anything. Alan is one of the best and one of the least conceited actors I’ve ever worked with. He is so physically active and agile that I encouraged him to be quite demonstrative in his expression, to play quite wildly. Maybe we’ve overdone it a bit, so now we’re trying to find a subtler, calmer way of expression in some scenes. But Alan’s energy, his unique aura, is undeniably at the center of the image. He plays with such intelligence and dexterity that it did not leave anyone indifferent at the premiere in 2017 and it does not leave anyone indifferent today.
Which makes Hamlet relevant nowadays? Why is this story still important to us?
Hamlet it’s all about understanding the truth, and in today’s world it’s increasingly difficult to know what the truth is. Countries are fed lies. I was familiar with Indonesian playwright, director and activist Rendra (1935-2009). He had his own theater company Theater Workshop. Its rehearsals took place in the open air, they gathered local residents, children and adults, whole families came, people climbed over the fence and watched the rehearsals. Usually, his troupe staged highly political theater. I also used to rehearse my shows in Rendra’s yard. During the rule of dictator Suharto, Rendra was arrested. His plays were considered a rebellion against the regime. After his release, Rendra said that he would no longer write original works, but would focus on the classics. In the one she staged in Hamlet In the image of Claudius, everyone recognized Suharto, and Rendra was again declared a rebel. Hamlet fights against a liar and a murderer who runs the country.
Now we look at what is called fake news and realize that it is in the reign of Claudius of Elsinore. The main in Hamlet is a question of how to recognize the truth and what is the role of art in exposing lies and guilt. In the play it is expressed very exquisitely, in it we hear music and poetry, in which is encoded the understanding of the power of human life and of the human mind as a real gem. Shakespeare is the first dramatist to trace the train of thought in the characters’ minds through monologues. Composer Brett Dean and librettist Matthew Joslin have preserved this feeling in the opera.
Composer Brett Dean Hamlet at the premiere in Munich on June 26 of this year. Photo – Wilfrid Hessl
What additional layer does Brett Dean’s music add?
Brett has taken us inside the mind of Hamlet. In a way, it couldn’t even be called an opera. It’s a sound experience because we’re in Hamlet’s head a lot of the time. The musicians are not only in the orchestra pit, but are also stationed in various parts of the theater. The chorus descends into the orchestra pit and we hear it as Claudius delivers his speech, these voices letting us understand what Hamlet is hearing. When listening to opera, one gets the feeling of being transported to a space of thought, mourning and love, where sound surrounds us from all sides.
Hamlets
Conductor Vladimir Jurovski, director Neil Armfield
At the Bavarian State Opera in Munich on July 1, 5, 9 and 12
staatsoper.de
2023-07-01 12:50:30
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