An entertaining and stimulating The Magic Flute from Wild Arts at Thaxted – Seen and Heard Worldwide

United Kingdom Thaxted ComPetition 2024 [2] – Mozart Die Zauberflöte (sung in English, translated by Jeremy Sams, abridged): Soloists, Orchestra / Orlando Jopling (conductor). Thaxted Parish Church, 30.6.2024. (CC)

Manufacturing:
Director – James Hurley
Designer – Sophie Lincoln

Forged:
Pamina – Natasha Web page
Tamino – Richard Dowling
The Queen of the Evening – Luci Briginshaw
Papageno – Gareth Brynmor John
Papagena – Eleanor Sanderson-Nash
Sarastro – Trevor Eliot Bowes
Monostatos – Ben Thapa
First Girl – Eleanor Oldfield
Second Girl – Martha Joes
Third Girl – Abbie Ward
Speaker – Henry Wright
Priest – Lachlan Craig

The luxurious manufacturing of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore (sung as ‘The Elixir of Love’) by Wild Arts at Thaxted Parish Church final yr as a part of the Thaxted Fesival was what drew me again this yr for The Magic Flute.

A bigger ensemble this yr was onstage (it was a smaller group for the Donizetti, there with fantastically crafted use of an accordion). The 2 productions shared a propensity for top creativeness, utilizing restricted house and props to maximal impact. There are cuts and tweaks on this Flute, however regardless of this the entire flowed, and Wild Arts is hardly the primary to re-order Mozart (Beecham famously did for his HMV recording of Die Entführung aus dem Serail, for instance). So it’s that the Three Girls tackle a number of the Boys’ music, and the beginning of the second act is redistributed so the Queen of the Evening’s second aria precedes the Quintet (which permits for a suggestion of a connection between the Girls and Pamina)

Apparently, there are parallels right here between James Hurley’s creative staging (and Wild Arts’ work basically) and that of Stephen Langridge’s Gothenburg Ring: Each are ecologically conscious. Wild Arts describes the set for Flute merely as ‘a blue mat, eight stools, and a handful of LED strips’; the characters are costumed with recycled and reused supplies. However the clue is within the opera’s title, Zauberflöte: Wild Arts makes magic occur. It isn’t solely Mozart’s flute which enchants, however the mixture of youthful expertise, an outstanding group of proficient skilled instrumentalists, a advantageous conductor and an imaginative director in James Hurley, ably supported by way of Sophie Lincoln’s vibrant designs.

The Thaxted/Gothenburg parallels don’t finish with the environmental side although. On the opening of the Mozart, in the course of the Overture, we see the Queen of the Evening rending the Solar Disc in two; an analogous deadly shattering happens within the Ring, leaving fractured outlines – human, there – throughout the stage. It’s instantly clear Mozart’s world is that of juxtapositions and oppositions, of sunshine and darkish, of organised perception towards extra human emotion. It’s in Mozart the journey to the Gentle that’s paramount, and every manufacturing faces the dileMMA of the way to skew the emphasis between the fairy story (and even the comedic) and the deep spirituality of Freemasonry. If the Masonic aspect was essentially subdued right here (the trials would have been, effectively, a trial to stage in a parish church), this manufacturing stays true to the core values of Wild Arts: phenomenally creative, relentlessly entertaining, and filled with perception.

The entire was, as with the Donizetti Elisir, superbly performed by Orlando Joplin (who additionally performed the keyboard ‘bells’). The inventiveness of the orchestral discount was the supply of many a delight. First violin Sijie Chen, co-leader of the London Mozart Gamers, clearly had an inordinate quantity to do and delivered with fashion and true tuning. The precise instrumentation used was strings (2:1;1;1), oboe, clarinet, basset horn, horn and bassoon. So far as the Overture was involved, this redistribution had essentially the most outstanding impact: this gave the impression of the proper weekend afternoon Harmoniemusik!

There was a lot to admire within the sturdy forged. Soprano Natasha Web page has a stunning, pure voice and was absolutely able to projecting Pamina’s searing ache within the second act; her assertion of ‘Tamino mine’ was actually touching. If Richard Dowling as Tamino appeared initially to over-project within the church’s acoustic, he dd settle to ship a most interesting, strong-voiced account.

Forged in amongst princes and princesses plus a Queen of the Evening and her darkish entourage, the touchingly earthy and human determine of Papageno was fantastically taken by sturdy baritone Gareth Brynmor John (a singer lively at Welsh Nationwide Opera). The half requires enormous character, and John’s clear stage presence and aptitude for comedy enabled him to offer the requisite stability; his Papagena was Eleanor Sanderson-Nash, brilliantly comedic too and their voices meshed superbly. With Trevor Eliot Bowes a resonant and authoritative Sarastro (there aren’t any fewer than three Sarastros in Wild Arts’ run), Ben Thapa an impressive Monostatos (taking in each inch of the half’s alternatives) and fantastically chosen smaller components (the Three Girls notably spectacular), that solely leaves the notorious Queen of the Evening. Luci Briginshaw has the vary, she has the presence; and he or she introduced a feisty Queen possessed of terrific ihigh notes.

Wild Arts continues to entertain and to stimulate in equal quantities. This, certainly, is what fringe opera is all about. I sit up for their providing subsequent yr …

Colin Clarke

Featured Picture: the forged of Wild Arts’ The Magic Flute at Thaxted Parish Church