By Aashiq
Link: https://wno.org.uk/whats-on/1l0a2v1o0i4x2s1treaming
Available until: 25th April 2020
Warning: Bad language (though probably nothing you haven’t
heard - and said - before)
I’ve seen and heard quite a lot of operas, but I didn’t know
La voix humaine. It’s only forty-five minutes long so you really need to
find another opera to pair it with and no opera has really emerged as the Pag
to its Cav.
So what do you do? Put La voix humaine on on its own? A lot of opera companies seem to have done this, but it’s not really enough when you’ve got all dressed up and gone all that way.
But in the world we live in at the moment, La voix
humaine is perfect. We can’t go to the opera. We can only watch at
home. And if we don’t have to go to the effort of going out, forty-five minutes
isn’t too short at all. It’s also great for the singer, who can perform and
film the opera on her own at home if she wants to because the opera is entirely
set in the character’s home.
David Pountney has put together a brilliant production for
Welsh National Opera. It’s been updated to the present day – the telephone
(which is very important to the story) is now a smartphone – and translated
into English. The translation has been modernised, but I just had a read of the
French version and although I do tend to pretend to understand a lot more than
I actually do where foreign languages are concerned, a lot of the text seems to
be a more or less direct translation (as far as the rhythm of the text allows
it). Women (and men, trust me, definitely men) have been falling for the
wrong guys throughout history so the story totally updates to the present day.
One thing though, I can’t quite get used to swearing in
opera. I’m not being a prude, I don’t think I know how to be one of those. Sometimes
life is just fornicating faeces (obviously, that’s not how I’d usually say it)
and you need to express that. But swearwords tend to be short and sharp with
hard consonants and they’re really not the easiest words to sing operatically
which is a problem because the swear words are the extra emotional ones that
you really want to emphasise. You could put a little trill in the middle of
boob and you get a nice hum on the end of bum, but that’s about it.
The smartphone has made a big difference to our lives,
though whether it’s positive or negative is open to question. It’s quite useful
when I get lost because some idiot has moved Accessorise again (my husband says
it’s in the same place it’s always been, but what does he know? I’m the
one who shops there), but it’s not so much fun when people berate you for
switching your phone off when you’re shopping. Hello, I’m SHOPPING? I’m busy.
This is a very delicate operation. I’m an actor, I can’t just buy everything I
see. I’m on a budget and I have to make the right choice. I also might have to
do mental arithmetic. I can’t cope with phone calls too. My brain would explode
and there would be grey matter everywhere and what colours even go with grey? Just
leave a message, send a text. I’ll always get back to you if I think it’s
important.
The smartphone/hands-free has also revolutionised this
opera. The thing about phones in 1959, when this opera was first performed, is
that they’re big, heavy things with leads and you can’t walk further than the
lead lets you. Not without causing a big crash which never seems to go down
well with people on the other end of the phone. Anyone would think it had never
happened to them. But with the smartphone, you have freedom. You can go where
you like and the phone goes with you. You can take it out of the bedroom. Into
the bathroom. Even into the shower. The possibilities are endless!
The opera is usually performed with a small orchestra, but
WNO have just used a piano, played by Chris Glynn, and it makes the opera feel
really intimate, somehow. I’m not sure if this is because we think of recitals
with a piano as being intimate or because pianos, unlike orchestras, actually belong
in people’s homes or because of some other reason I don’t even know but I loved
the piano accompaniment. An orchestra, even a reduced one, would probably be a
bit much considering Elle’s delicate mental state. My husband isn’t allowed to
play his guitar when I’m feeling delicate. Not that I’d actually forbid
him, but the screaming usually gives him a bit of a clue.
Actually, I shouldn’t call her Elle. She’s L in this. I like
Elle better. It is actually a name now, as well as being the French word for She,
and most people only use single initials for their name when they’re trying to
hide things. Part of the whole point of this opera is that Elle can’t
hide anything. Her whole life, physically and emotionally, is laid bare for us
all to see and she’s a terrible liar because she can’t keep the pretence going.
I’d have called her Elle, but let’s be fair, I do all kinds of things most
people wouldn’t.
L (I’m going to try to behave myself here, just don’t expect
me to make a habit of it) is sung by Claire Booth and it really is an exceptional
performance. Her singing is beautiful even when her voice is full of pain and
her acting is really moving. When I get like that, people tend to sigh and roll
their eyes (which really doesn’t help, just saying), but L made me want to do
illegal things like going into her house and giving her a hug. It’s an
incredible performance of a character who clearly has very big mental health
problems and Claire does so well to make Elle L seem so sympathetic when
she’s doing the one thing you should never do - calling your ex for a long,
long chat about your feelings. (Though in a way, I don’t blame her. This guy
stays on the phone with her for nearly forty-five minutes while she tells him
everything she’s feeling and everything she’s done about it. I mean, how many
guys would do that even if they did still like you? No wonder she wants him
back! If this guy was any more of a keeper, he’d have Manchester United wanting
to sign him.)
It’s a beautiful performance of an opera, presented in a way
we might not see again. If you enjoy opera (even if it’s just the kind with
‘soap’ on the beginning), I think you should watch this.
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