The idea of fiction and reality is a key theme of Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin. Take for instance the
moment Tatiana visits Onegin’s mansion and questions his character, an amalgam
of literary heroes.
This newly devised piece from director Guido Martin-Brandis
is based predominantly on Tchaikovsky’s opera, but like Onegin it is a
fabrication of personas – here musical heroes. The plot is reduced to its
central couple of Onegin and Tatiana, narrated in English by Joan Plunkett to
drive the story with clarity for the audience. Musical pieces are then taken
from both Tchaikovsky and a number of later composers – Mahler, Debussy,
Strauss and Rachmaninov – which add depth to the characterisation and some musical
variety. It is a well-constructed opera that offers Pushkin’s story in
miniature: an intense and melodramatic portrayal of unrequited love between an
arrogant dandy and a shy landowner’s daughter.
The production’s main gimmick, though, is that of
projection. Director Martin-Brandis cites, in his programme notes, his interest
in psychological projection – in particular positive projection where characters
are upheld as a paragon of goodness in an almost spiritual manner. Here, this
manifests as literal projection on the back wall to reflect the
inner-psychology of the characters; the choice of composers, too, are direct
contemporaries of Freud and Jung and were influenced by the psychologically
suggestive poems and novels of the time.
The idea of projection is an intriguing one, but in practice
it is an inelegant solution to surtitles. Three overhead projectors are
utilised, with images, poetry and the libretto adding setting and literary
context to the songs (sung in their varying native languages: Russian, German
and French). This requires the narrator to frequently and distractingly switch
the projectors on and off to, essentially, turn the page of the libretto. At
times there are clever parallels drawn through the choice of images, and letters
written by characters are blown up for all to see. That is, when they can be
read – the projections are often too small for the full audience to view. A more
polished production is required here to not only offer surtitles to the
audience, but to really dig into the psychology of these characters as
Martin-Brandis so keenly wishes to.
The musical choices are also predominantly solos as we
follow the thoughts of each character. This is very much about the Romantic
idea of individuals wrestling with their feelings as opposed to a couple drawn
together through fierce chemistry, magnetic attraction and sexual desire. The
climax of the piece is a duet where these feelings eventually spill out of
their heads through their words, but the structure overall doesn’t allow for a
development of their relationship.
But then, this is a more abstract portrayal of psychology
than a true depiction of a passionate relationship – with some beautiful music
to boot. There is fine dramatic singing here from both Isolde Roxby (Tatiana) and
Nicolas Dwyer (Onegin), who expertly navigate a mixture of languages and
composers to create consistent characterisation. Pianist Richard Hall is also
excellent, ensuring this production is a delight to listen to.
3/5
Watch: Onegin and
Tatiana was performed at the Arcola Theatre as part of the Grimeborn Opera
Festival.
