Ukrainian Opera and Ballet Theatre Kyiv brought the heat, passion and fire of Sevilla to Manchester yesterday in acclaimed producer Ellen Kent’s Carmen, bringing the house down with their dazzling rendition of Bizet’s classic.
Senbla and Opera International’s tour marks another collaboration between Kent and the internationally-renowned Ukrainian company. Opera fans can enjoy a triple bill of classics this week: La Traviata on Wednesday night, Carmen yesterday, and Madama Butterfly this evening.
Set against a beautiful backdrop of Roman columns in a village square in Sevilla, the story follows the entrancing gypsy girl Carmen. Coquettish and self-absorbed, she seduces corporal Don José and convinces him to desert the army and abandon his former love Michaela.
When she tires of him and meets the bullfighter Escarmillo she sets off a tragic chain of events fuelled by sexual jealousy, passion and rage.
The quartet of leads each brought real style and power to their roles. Mezzo-soprano Natalia Matveeva was sultry and manipulative as the story’s simultaneous heroine and villainess, commanding the audience’s attention at all times.
Her vocal control and range was magnificent, particularly in the famous ‘Habanera’, but she shone most when her character’s hidden vulnerability was revealed during the tarot card scene and in her final defiant showdown with Don José.
Watching the realisation dawn on Carmen that her self-centred, reckless behaviour had finally caught up with her was especially poignant.
Don José (Davit Sumbladze) was another highlight. His transformation from the uptight soldier torn between duty and lust in Act 1 to the obsessive scorned lover we see in Act 4 was spectacularly done. The latent darkness in his character was gradually exposed throughout Act 2 and 3 to perfectly set up the opera’s inevitable tragedy.
Every aspect of his character was channelled into his decline: his costume slowly unravelled as the production wore on and as he staggered on and off stage, the mental strain of his all-consuming jealousy became more and more apparent.
The couple’s foils were also excellent. Simple village girl Michaela (Alyona Kirstenyova) was sweetly bland and innocent in Act 1 but discovered a real inner strength during her solo in Act 3 – as she scorns her own fear and finally confronts ‘the other woman’ – which was powerful to watch.
Self-satisfied bullfighter Escarmillo (Iurie Gisca) provided some much-needed comic relief as he swaggered on and off stage. Both voices provided colour and richness to an already impressive production, particularly Kirstenyova’s.
The supporting cast were also strong, particularly the bumbling, mostly drunk lieutenant Zuniga (Valeriu Cojocaru) and Carmen’s gossipy friends Frasquita and Mercedes (Anastasiia Blokha and Marharyta Bochachova). The way the girls kept dealing cards and laughing as Carmen sang fearfully about her fate, underneath Valeriu Cucarschi’s cold blue lighting, made her grief even more effective.
Ukrainian Opera and Ballet Theatre Kyiv’s orchestra didn’t put a foot wrong, beautifully bringing Bizet’s wonderful score to life under the expert conducting of Vasyl Vasylenko. Particular highlights were the ‘Toreador’s Song’, Carmen’s ‘Habanera’, and the joyous ‘Les voici! Voici le quadrille!’ at the start of Act 4.
Unfortunately technical problems with the English surtitles dogged the production. The running surtitles couldn’t keep up with the fast pace of certain songs and dialogue which switched between characters continually, which was a particular problem during Michaela’s moving solo in Act 3, Carmen and Don José’s argument shortly after, and when Frasquita and Mercedes warn Carmen of José’s appearance at the beginning of Act 4.
Fortunately the opera’s final scene between the two leads was uninterrupted by tech glitches, but for those unfamiliar with the story other important details may have been missed. It was one of few issues in an otherwise stirring and brilliantly sung rendition of Bizet’s classic, which ended with a moving performance of the Ukrainian national anthem.
Ellen Kent’s Carmen is on tour across the UK and tickets are still available here for tonight’s production of Madama Butterfly.
Images used with permission of Palace Theatre and Opera House Manchester.
