Love, loss and lip-syncing in ancient Carthage: Ensemble Orquesta’s playful revival of Purcell’s perennial tragedy
Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas is an unmistakably odd work. Its themes — love, fate, supernatural betrayal and death — are epic, yet they unfold on an intimate scale, fusing French, Italian and English musical traditions. Then there is the plot: a whiplash-inducing concoction of classical myth, tragic love story and witchy hijinks, all culminating in a final aria that delivers a genuine gut punch. And all this takes just over an hour.
What better place to enjoy it in all its oddness than Grimeborn, Arcola’s delightfully irreverent annual opera festival? Staged in Arcola’s intimate warehouse space, this feels like a fitting modern counterpart to the opera’s original setting: Josias Priest’s school for young gentlewomen in Chelsea, where it was first performed in 1689. There may now be more craft-beer-drinkers in the audience, and a gentle thrum of Hackney life outside, but the intimacy feels like a considered nod to the 18th century chamber opera tradition.
The six-strong musical ensemble is impressively versatile. Michael Fields moves between guitar, lute and theorbo with particularly delicate and expressive playing, while Marcio Da Silva takes on the roles of Music Director and Aeneas with relish. This spirit of multi-roling extends to the two leads, Helen May and Rosemary Carlton Willis, who share the roles of Dido and the Sorceress. Before the performance, the audience votes on who will play which role.
Cynics might call this a gimmick, but there is something fitting about leaving the casting to chance in a work so preoccupied with fate. It also gives the production an intriguing psychological dimension: the Sorceress can feel less like an external villain than an embodiment of Dido’s darker self. It brought to mind an RSC production of Doctor Faustus in which Faustus and Mephistopheles were shared between actors, suggesting that the two might be understood as aspects of the same psyche.
Rosemary Carlton Willis gives Dido a commanding opening, her regal poise shot through with woe in “My Heart is Pressed with Torment”. Her voice is ethereal, yet crisp in the occasionally challenging acoustics of the room. Helen May’s Sorceress is equally striking, shifting between animalistic snarls and supercilious serenity.
Da Silva’s production establishes a surreal visual language from the outset. The characters seem to exist under the Sorceress’s hypnotic spell, while a large white sheet becomes a physical representation of Dido’s fate, winding around the cast before eventually transforming into her shroud. It is an evocative motif, though the choreography can sometimes feel hurried and under-rehearsed. The trance-like movement also occasionally works against the more spirited passages of music.
The studio setting presents its own challenge and at times it feels slightly too small for the piece. The vocals are generally clear, although larger choral passages can become murky or overpowering.
When it matters, however, the music really lands. Priscilla Fong and Emma Humann inject the cave scene with frenetic energy, while a lip-sync of “Come Away Fellow Sailors” feels simple but surprisingly novel. And then comes Dido’s final aria, “When I Am Laid in Earth”. The close audience proximity makes its devastating power all the more wrenching.
There was talk of reviving the production in a larger space, and that may be exactly what it needs. Its rough-around-the-edges quality will not be for everyone, but for me it is a sign of an ambitious company unafraid of taking risks. Ensemble Orquesta’s production may encounter a little turbulence along the way, but there are no drooping wings here.
Dido and Aeneas runs until 15th August and Grimeborn Opera until 5th September at Arcola Theatre.