OWEN WINGRAVE (Grange Park Opera)****

 

By Cal

Link to Act 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGkGV7wrMyM

Link to Act 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IZ9GcpJiTA

Available until: Unknown

I’ve seen Owen Wingrave twice and on both occasions, it’s been filmed on location. I believe the original production was as well.

That isn’t a complaint. There’s clearly something about the film that screams “Film me on location.” Without seeing it on stage, I can’t really say if it would work or not, but Stephen Medcalf’s production is very intense on film.

Another thing about Owen Wingrave is that it’s always the lesser-known one. Britten’s Owen Wingrave isn’t as well-known as Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, just as Henry James’ short story Owen Wingrave isn’t as well-known as James’ novella The Turn of the Screw. It is clear why as The Turn of the Screw is an exceptional story while Owen Wingrave is just a really good story, but they both make good operas and Grange Park Opera’s filmed production works really well. The location has great acoustics and some brilliant echoes which are particularly effective at the end.

It starts brilliantly – if the opening image doesn’t make you smile, I must be officially old! Then the opera begins. It’s filmed in black and white, which is a really interesting choice, particularly as the production is set in the present day - there’s a laptop floating around (not literally, it’s not that sort of ghost story) and the person playing video games isn’t the one you’d expect, though it does make a very important comment about one of the big themes of the opera.

The film also makes great use of a split-screen effect. It enables us to see several singers at the same time, but it didn’t stand out as being odd. I’m so used to Zoom productions, it was a moment or two before I even realised it was unusual.

The film was made under socially distant conditions. They weren’t always two metres apart, but they didn’t hang around next to each other for long. There was some physical contact, but I don’t think there was ever any skin contact, and characters who got close tended to turn their faces away. It could have looked odd, but it works well. Owen Wingrave is an opera with a lot of anger and tension – not one for tender touches and glances.

Conductor James Henshaw gives his singers time and space to pour every drop of colour into their performances – it sounds almost like Lieder at times. To me, anyway. Someone who knows more about Lieder might say different!

The role of Owen is taken by Ross Ramgobin, who appeared recently as Papageno in the Royal Opera’s Christmas Concert. Many critics mentioned the fact he was also Grange Park Opera’s Owen so we were very curious about seeing him in such a different role. He really is seriously good as the tortured Owen, determined not to fight as a soldier but instead finding himself fighting for what he believes in. His baritone is rich and very expressive as he takes Owen through many emotions as he negotiates his family’s anger concerning his decision.

Richard Berkeley-Steele is powerful in voice and presence as Sir Philip Wingrave while Susan Bullock is both delightfully eccentric and rather terrifying (not that the two always go together) as the strident Miss Wingrave. William Dazeley and Janis Kelly bring some sanity in the roles of Mr and Mrs Coyle.

Madeleine Pierard’s hysterically demanding Mrs Julian unsurprisingly embarrasses her daughter Kate, Owen’s fiancée, sung by Kitty Whately, who sings beautifully and manages to win some sympathy for her character, who isn’t that much more sensible than her mother. Lechmere is a character who could come across quite badly, but James Way is almost amusing in the role.

It’s a very good film – but I would like to see Owen Wingrave on a stage one day.