Classical review: Katya Kabanova

Published on Sunday 24 May 2009 22:27

*** PERTH FESTIVAL THEATRE

THE conditions placed on small-scale operative English Touring Opera are not ideal for staging Janacek's Katya Kabanova.

The orchestral underscoring, with its feverish string writing, is such a vital component that to approach it with a shakily reduced string section – as ETO does in this easy-to-assemble touring production – sells the overall experience a little short.

Add to that feeling is a sense of "safety first" in James Conway's stage direction – not so much in the plain, utilitarian blackness of Adam Wiltshire's set, or the representation of the heroine-engulfing River Volga as a puny puddle, but in the missed opportunity to present this essentially lusty tale as something much more erotically-charged.

Among the hard-working cast, the most convincing performances came not from tormented Katya (powerfully sung by Linda Richardson but somehow incomplete as a character) or Fiona Kimm's not-so-fearsome Kabanicha, but thrive instead on the distinctive supporting strengths of Michael Bracegirdle's virile Kudryash and Jane Harrington's Glasha.

But despite this, and Michael Rosewell's purposeful musical direction, Friday's performance lacked an essential spark. The ultimate tragedy – Katya's suicide and the mother-in-law's indifference – was visibly and emotionally pallid. An extra degree of creative ingenuity, and we might have appreciated this work for the truly super opera it is.