Review of ‘Cassandra’ by La Monnaie de Munt

• 10 sept 2023

  Date of performance: 10 sept 2023
  Score: Bernard Foccroulle
  Libretto: Matthew Jocelyn
  Musical Direction/Conductor: Kazushi Ono
  Direction/Video Design: Marie-Eve Signeyrole
  
  A narrative on climate change, riffing on the Greek legend of Cassandra who predicted the fall of Troy, where Sandra (Jessica Niles), a modern-day climate scientist, broadcasts what she knows about the fall of civilisation. The director also being a cinematographer (cinéaste) made for rich and clever use of images. There were many beautiful sequences conceived from a strongly visual foundation; bees were suggested by dancing particles; and there was actual projected infrared footage of bees in the hive. When the handheld camera followed singers around in the opening sequence I was bracing myself for another chaotic work that split focus between on-stage and on-screen, but this was only the case at the start, and thereafter it calmed down. If anything, it was a little bizarre that the hand-held technique only appeared once and was not returned to.
  
  Other video use that worked well was of a slow-motion Sandra seen floating from underwater through oceans of melted ice, projected cranes in flight; these sequences had a hypnotic effect. The massive cube at the centre of the stage was a surface on which to project; it variously became an iceberg, a beehive. The most poetic scene showed Cassandra (Katarina Bradić) dancing with swirling particles projected onto the cube as it turned, with electric violins imitating buzzing. Curtains were thrown down from the ceiling and left hanging, delineating dissolving shapes that suggested icebergs calving. Use of light and shade was beautifully conceived and quite stunning visually; deep Antarctic blues, black and white and monochrome colour design dominated. Clearly, Signeyrole is a Director for whom visual language is a focus.
  
  Musically, the work was interesting. I loved the use of the hidden choir who sang hymn-like and subdued from behind the set, like an omni-presence, an unseen Greek chorus, until at the very end they finally appeared in the theatre doorways singing at us from close proximity. Actors were planted among the audience, simulating spectators at Sandra’s speaking engagements; these devices broke the 4th wall and activated the dead and dark audience space in a fun way that felt quite natural and easy to accept. There were some awkward moments where banal conversational text was set to melismatic music that required highly-produced singing and I felt a little confused as to why sprechstimme wasn’t employed for such text given it was used on other occasions. Perhaps it’s because I don’t know his music yet, but I didn’t quite ‘get’ Bernard Fouccrolle’s musical language. It had moments of largesse, becoming expansive and immersive when it really pushed into high drama, but it didn’t have a clear character that I could pin down. ‘Epic’ ? but not like a Wagner, or a Saariaho. Aptly sweeping given the theme and it pulled us in and under when it mattered. The passages that I think were making an attempt at being humorous, involving percussion, woodblocks and quirky violin writing fell a little short- maybe because of the band not being quite tight enough.
  
  The feeling I had when Cassandra ended was almost opposite to the frustration and annoyance I felt at the end of Mahoganny. While two white men of a certain age got up as composer and librettist to receive the highest applause at the end of each production, the sight of Foccroulle and Jocelyn humbly taking their bows brought tears to my eyes. Here were two oldish white men who had used their power and talent to get behind an issue that affects the young and vulnerable and who (it would appear intentionally) centred women in the telling of that story. While it would have been rewarding and appropriate to have seen even one of these two roles given to a woman by the commissioners, at least these two dudes gave authentic voice to people who did not look like them through this opera, and interrogated society in a genuine and deeply sincere way. However, I suspect it was Marie-Eve Signeyrole as Director who was the one who actually brought all the moving parts of this ambitious jigsaw together and who deserves the highest praise for the way she layered imagery, words and music to powerful effect.