i am native, rooted here.
well i've just returned from a whirlwind three weeks in the UK and there's a lot to talk about. i've slept very frantically for the past two days (i hasten to call it jet lag) and now i'm kind of back into the swing of things. i always knew i'd save this entry till i got back to the states but i have been grappling with some of the things i experienced so be patient while i work all of this out.
it's very difficult to not set expectations when you've been planning on seeing something for almost a year. so was the case with Grimes on the Beach, a production i'd been anticipating from the moment i heard about it. so much so that when my travels were in peril and i thought that i wasn't going to make it out of the country in time for this performance that i had a *slight* breakdown (no need to revisit that ugliness). well i did make it and my boyfriend and i had no idea what waited for us.
we turned up to the beach at Aldeburgh, nice and early as we had been instructed and this was waiting for us:
that's right, a full rainbow stretched out in front of us over the North Sea (and conveniently placed behind the set); some pointed out maybe inappropriate for Grimes but i thought it just right. it was chaos as this was the final of only three performances -- the audience totalled at about 1500 (it was completely sold out, as were the other two performances and the projected totals came to over 5,000 attendees) and everyone was incredibly excited. nowhere was any cynicism to be seen and the production could have been a huge target for it: mic'ed singers, pre-recorded orchestra but for me that was never a problem. this was not a typical performance in a concert hall where having all of those things would be blasphemous. this was something elemental, rugged, unexpected. and understanding that made the whole thing a lot easier to swallow.
(courtesy of Stephen Llewellyn)
the production of Grimes was set in WWII Suffolk, reminding me how incredibly adaptable this story actually is, given all of its very specific elements. the stage was massive and the opera started off in grand style with a Spitfire flying overhead. now there are lots of reviews that will give you the nuts and bolts of the performance (which are incredibly important -- if you're interested, check out my boyfriend's blog at leboyfriend.tumblr.com) but i want to talk about something else. there are things that really struck me about all of this that the organizers of this event could have only dreamed would have occurred.
the opera starts off in the daytime, right before dusk. this change from day to very dark night, enhanced by the blackness of the North Sea behind the stage, framed the entire conception of the opera. opera has its own little tricks to imitate the passage of time but feeling the real passing of time, whether or not it corresponded with the story, had a profound effect. as the opera descended into darkness, so did we. when the moon came out from behind a veil of clouds (and yes, it happened during the Moonlight interlude), it created its own emotion. and then there were the waves. there are many silent moments in Grimes and that becomes even more noticeable when they are punctuated by the sounds of the waves crashing upon the beach. the moon was full and it was high tide so you could see them growing wild, coming closer, threatening and menacing --- unstoppable. The Sea has always been a character in Grimes, perhaps an overlooked one. this production brought it to the fore.
and then there was one very special moment, for me at least. at the end of the first scene, Grimes walks off the set and onto the beach. he continues walking down the beach, to the sea as if he were to walk right into it. at that very moment, my heart broke and i thought i would cry right there on the spot. in retrospect, i suppose it reminds me of the moment when James Mason's character walks into the ocean at the end of A Star is Born, all the while Judy Garland sings "A New World", only accompanied by the sound of the waves crashing onto the beach. it was as if it were already over for the fisherman and we were looking at what we knew what would come, what was inevitable. there's no way that this could have been done on a stage.
the way the cast used the surroundings was magnificent, breaking a sort of fourth wall between the stage and the beach, walking into our world but yet remaining in their own…it was incredibly powerful. and something that struck me: my boyfriend said to me, after it was all over, "you know, i don't think Ben would have let this happen." and he's right which is why i said, "well it's a good thing he's dead, then." because we needed this and are better for it. so kudos to EVERYONE at Aldeburgh Music, it was a resounding success and you have much to be proud of.
skipping forward a few weeks from Aldeburgh to London and on to…
now this one is a little more difficult. we struggled over whether or not we were actually going to go (the tickets were incredibly expensive) but we were able to find great seats, plus there were so many reasons as to why we should go. i had read a little bit about people's reactions to the production (read: not great) and i had spent the majority of this trip consumed with Gloriana (i had just submitted an abstract on the opera) so there was a lot bouncing around in my mind.
still, now, weeks later, i cannot tell you with confidence that i understood the production. and i don't mean in some weird, Continental, Regie sort of way. i just didn't get it. well i thought i did and maybe i get more than most but that's up for debate. i think it's very interesting that when watching this opera, i thought of two films: Kiss Me Kate (for its play within a play setup) and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (featuring Bette Davis and Errol Flynn); the latter because the opera could have been taken from the movie frame by frame and because it works/ed better as a movie. the opera itself is fragmented and strange in its use of pastiche. there's not a beginning, middle, and end and this, in itself, is no crime but things just seem to…happen. this was not aided by the production which takes place during the time of Elizabeth II's coronation. apparently, the opera (this is the play within the play) is being staged for Her Majesty to view in some town hall as part of the Coronation festivities (we see the Queen twice, once at the beginning and again at the end), as a result, the performance seems slapdash and we see the inner workings: the moving of set pieces, the repititeur, the on-stage musicians, and the director all walking around, interacting with the performance. this was not so much an issue for me as it was for others. what this premise was supposed to represent, however, is where you find me at a loss. again, i go back to the Private Lives movie with its vignetted nature. maybe Britten drew from this type of idea so understandable in plays and movies, who knows. and while i found myself continually head scratching (especially at the brief moment of racism in the middle of the opera involving Morris dancing), the music is quite good at times and the last act (especially the last scenes where Elizabeth is dying) is captivating.
at the end of this trip was the other thing i came for, the Britten on Stage and Screen conference at the University of Nottingham. it was a fantastic conference with great papers and similarly great performances including The Golden Vanity, The Ascent of F6 and lecture-recitals featuring music from The Turn of the Screw and Poulenc's Les Mamelles des Tiresias. my paper on Billy Budd went extremely well and i was extremely pleased with the outcome. there's a lot of really fantastic scholarship going on out there and i'm pleased to be a part of it.
the very first thing i did on this trip was take a tour of the Adnams brewery, courtesy of head brewer Fergus Fitzgerald. as a result, i got to sample their Britten centenary beer Native Britten and let me tell y'all, it is fantastic! if you're ever in Suffolk, absolutely take this tour and if you get a chance to get your hands on Native Britten this year, definitely do so.
other little tidbits include seeing Ian Bostridge and Julius Drake give a great masterclass on Britten song (those two are champions right there), seeing Maggi Hambling at Grimes on the Beach, watching Instruments of the Orchestra and Love from a Stranger and laughing hysterically, and having great conversations. of course there were other things, too but they have nothing to do with Britten.
so what's next? i'll keep bringing any new information your way -- i'm currently nose deep in the Kildea (which is fantastic) and will be back in the UK in september for the Music Since 1900 conference. hopefully by then, i will have had some Festival of Britten Aspall cyder and have my hands on a 50p coin with Britten's face on it.
