Opera review: Marx in London!, Theatre Royal, Glasgow

Scottish Opera’s magnificent Marx in London! demonstrates a creative synergy that’s all-consuming, writes Ken Walton

Roland Wood as Karl Marx in Scottish Opera's production of Marx in London! (Picture: James Glossop)

Scottish Opera: Marx in London, Theatre Royal, Glasgow *****

Who'd have thought an opera depicting a day in the life of Karl Marx could be so much fun? Yet here we are: the bearded German philosopher exiled in London, chronically inept in the ways of basic household management, caught up in a chaotic whirlwind of domestic farce. He suffers from carbuncles, runs out of money, tries it on with his housekeeper. Das Kapital is for another day.

Jonathan Dove’s Marx in London! first hit the stage in Bonn in 2018, where it apparently took a German audience 30 minutes to realise it was comic opera. Not so in Glasgow, where Scottish Opera has opted for a new production by Stephen Barlow to mark the UK premiere, and where the English version of Charles Hart’s snappy libretto - and a culture of not taking things too seriously - had this opening night audience giggling from the word go.

Hart’s dialogue – previous credits include Phantom of the Opera – is a triumph of electrifying concision, coupled with a musical score whose unflagging dynamic, driven by Dove’s incendiary John Adams-like minimalism and climactic Wagnerian intensity, dictates every dramatic twist and turn. It can’t have been hard for Barlow to contribute such perfectly matched stagecraft, nor designer Yannis Thavoris his punchy sets. The creative synergy is all-consuming.

As is a cast combining eye-catching individuality with electrifying teamwork. Roland Wood’s firm-voiced Marx is hilarious yet pitiable; Rebecca Bottone’s versatile coloratura as daughter Tussi sparkles; Lucy Schaufer’s Helene is gorgeously rich-toned. Well-defined characterisations, too, from William Morgan as Freddy, Orla Boylan as wife Jenny, Alasdair Elliott as Engels and Jamie MacDougall as the ubiquitous Prussian spy. Chorus work is minimal but strategically impactful. David Parry conducts an alert and meaty Scottish Opera Orchestra.

What a pity there are so few performances.

In Glasgow till 17 February; opens Edinburgh 22 February