Les Troyens

I found  experiencing the epic Opera Les Troyens by Berlioz on Saturday evening January 5th 2013 exhausting  although with a five o’clock scheduled start I was prepared for a long session. I was not mistaken. As if the cinema management knew  we were to have a long sitting they kept us standing outside until a few minutes before the scheduled beginning of preliminaries. As on my last visit I had booked an aisle seat to one side knowing that I would not have a stranger next to me in what had been a fairly full cinema theatre. In this instance there was a whole row vacant adjacent so I was able to move to the centre  theatre which added to the enjoyment of the experience.

I had no advance knowledge of the story or the music other than knowing of Berlioz from the Symphony Fantastique, a record of which I thought I possessed but did not find so am listening to a performance on You Tube from August of 2011  Society des Concerto du Conservatoire, André Cluytens conducting at a BBC Promenade Concert, Other known pieces are his Romeo and Juliet and Harold en Italie. I also knew he had created an opera on Benvenuto Cellini and La Damnation de Faust which includes an appearance of Helen of Troy.

In the second interval we learn that the male lead Bryan Hymel as Aeneas, the Trojan military leader had appeared in one of the rare production at Convent Garden in June and July of 2013 and that he was only recruited to this production at the last minute after the house tenor Marcello Girordano pulled out of a role which tenors find difficult because of the sustained singing and range required, a fate which fell the great Placido Domingo previously. Hymel had only a two hour rehearsal of his role before the performance just before the New Year and this made his performance even more remarkable.

This was said to only be the second time the Opera has been performed  at Metropolitan because of requirements with a dozen lead singers, a huge chorus of 120 and a full corps des ballet with lead dancers and other extras such as children who play young Trojans.

After reading the available information I find from photos that the Covent Garden production appears better staged and was available to hear live at the time. Even better I have now discovered the full opera is available on Youtube in a production from Paris and as a consequence I abandoned  the intention to go an watch Quartet this afternoon, decided listen and  watch again parts of the whole opera with Quartet rescheduled for next week as long as there are showings during the day. I had also forgotten that I am going see Les Misérables,, the film on Friday morning.

I was late setting off on Saturday and stopped in Shields to collect a second supply of ink cartridges only to find there was only three blacks left so got the rest of the five (one replacement) in colours. I therefore left myself only a few minutes spare  to get some food and the ticket before the scheduled start. I  went straight to the Asda  sandwich deal counter  parking nearby and found among the few items left a smoked salmon and cheese sandwich marked down from £2 to £1. It was delicious although eaten on the hoof as I walked from the supermarket to the cinema and attempted to obtain the ticket from the automated machine only to be told to go to the ticket counter where I discovered the problem was having booked two events at the same time.

My only knowledge of the Opera was from its title The Trojans a subject which  been covered in our popular and high culture in a variety of ways with Troy and Brad Pitt 2004 and Helen of Troy back in 1966 and who will forget Elizabeth Taylor as Helen in the 1967 production of Dr Faustus with Richard Burton, and which they also performed on stage at the Oxford Playhouse. I went in search of the programme but as I did not find I assume I did not see. I did see Marlowe’s Dr Faustus at Stratford Royal Shakespeare Company in 1986and a production of Faust based on Goethe’s version at the Theatre Royal Newcastle.

The story of the Trojan wars has featured in a number of Operas Troilus and Cressida by William Walton and I have seen the William Shakespeare Play performed by the RSC, Sam Mendes, directed at the Theatre Royal with David Troughton as Hector and Ralph Fiennes as Troilus ( Alfred Burke was Nestor). The Belle Heléne by Offenbach, Dido and Aeneas by Purcell, King Priam by Michael Tippet and Achilles by Gay are other operatic versions. There are various poems and plays created by Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and I am sure I have seen RSC little productions of the  Trojan Women and Electra but this  may be false memory. There were three radio plays in 1998 with Paul Scholfield and a TV mini series in 2003.

There was also the extraordinary Tantalus with nine plays  which I saw over three days at the Theatre Royal and where I then acquired the script. (My search also discovered the programme from the Earls Court performance of AIDA sponsored by the Prince’s Trust and where he attended a performance with his then wife, Diana on 28th  June 1988.  Attended on Saturday 2nd July seats R 23 -27 although we quickly moved  to overlook the stage from the side!)

Now to this extraordinary five act Opera Les Troyens. There is no memorable music such as from Aida, Madam Butterfly or Carmen but I am left with a sense of great emotional and at times passionate intensity, and extraordinary chorus work. The five acts into three sessions with the first two acts some 90 mins forming an opera on its own and where the principal singers take their bows.  The first two acts cover the finding of the Trojan horse left by the departing Athenians after the years of siege and the city’s destruction after they misguidedly take into the City. The star of this two act opera is Deborah Voight as Cassandra who forecasts what happens and commits suicide with other Trojan women after  Aeneas has been persuaded  to lead the male army away to fight another day

I had not heard Deborah sing before but knew the name from the publicity over her firing from Covent Garden because of her excessive weight  and her decision to use  surgery to almost half her size. She gives an outstanding performance which was appropriately recognised at the closure of the second Act She has attempted to persuade her father King Priam and her fiancée Coroebus played by another known name Dwaine Croft who has sung some 25 roles at Met and whose brother Robert is the more well known Internationally, not to bring the horse into the city, Both perish as a consequence. The sequence where she persuades other Trojan women not to yield to the Athenians but die with her is most moving. Prior to this Aeneas the warrior is persuaded by the ghost of Hector to flee the city before the Athenians exit the Horse and to found a new Empire of Trojans in Italy.

I stayed for the first part of the interval where Voight is interviewed and then hastily went over to McDonalds to enjoy a 99p chicken burger and £1 20 or thereabouts  good cup of coffee, returning for an interview with the Met‘s new conductor Fabio Luiso. I would not have survived otherwise.

The third and fourth acts combined are even longer  and the Met production last well over an hour and a half with at last half an hour of dancing which for once impressed me greatly although led one member of the audience to comment about padding during the next interval.
The people of Tyre fled to North Africa and the city of Carthage and seven years late under the leadership of the Queen Dido, (played by Susan Graham), still mourning the murder of her husband. Graham also played Dido at the Théátre du Chátelet  in the performance I am listening to at this moment.

The exiles from Tyre have prospered and now two events in quick succession are to significantly change fortunes. Aeneas, his son and his men have sought sanctuary from the storms at the sea the city’s harbour and bring various gifts of treasure to the Queen to beg her indulgence. These she accepts and offers the hospitality of her city and its people. However the good  times are dramatically broken with the news that the Barbarians,  the Numideans have declared war and are approaching the city having destroyed outposts. The city is short of arms  and Aeneas offers his men to fight alongside placing his son in the care of Dido. The son is traditionally played by a young soprano whose name in this instance I am yet to find but who  performance was impressive.

As a consequence of the alliance the enemy is defeated and the ballet is part of the celebrations as well as the couple falling in love and with great on stage passion as clearly Dido has great personal  admiration for the young tenor Bryan Hymel aged 33.  His voice is ideal for a role which as mentioned defeats many established tenors. L learned that Graham and Hymel have sung together before when he was only 24 and they instantly took to each other and this is clear in the performance and after their Act 4 interview. On stage the problem, of their romance is that Dido neglects her leadership which cause her adviser Narbal, played by Kwangchul Youn justified concern at the commencement of Act 4

In the second and shorter interval I slipped out at quickly for an ice cream, a single scup without toppings and cherry based  which was very good although steep at £2,60 and worth about £1 less.

The final Act 5 lasts one hour and I find Aeneas about to make his way to Italy despite his love for Dido because of the appearance of Hector, Priam, Coroebus and Cassandra demanding and urging him to fulfil his destiny. When Dido finds out she curses him wishes his failure and damnation. When his fleet sets off she is so angry and distraught she orders the creation of a pyre of everything which reminds her of him and the Trojans. She prophesises that her fate will be remembered and that a future general Hannibal will destroy Italy and revenge her in so doing. She stabs herself to death with the sword of Aeneas and in that moment has a vision of the destruction of Carthage by Rome. The curse on Aeneas is echoed by all the Carthaginians witnessing the death of their Queen.

An opera to be considered great has to be more than a great spectacle or giving the audience their money’s worth in terms of length and number of principal artists. This not a  great opera which I suspect means it is the main reason why it is not performed more frequently. However there were some I was there great singing by the principals. The experience  will be memorable although I do not anticipate I will  view again or purchase a recording.

This was not so for the modern opera Satyagraha where I  purchased a CD recording. It was shown last night on Sky Arts and I recorded to view at a later date.

AIDA 1989 2009 and 2012

I have experienced the Opera AIDA, live, three times although twice via a cinema relay from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. In 2009 and Saturday 16th December 2012. The other occasion was a large arena production at Earls Court in the 1980’s where we were so far from the stage at the back of the stalls that we quickly moved to the side with a view over looking the huge set from one side.

In 2009 I wrote  that “Yesterday I had one of the great cultural experiences of a lifetime, visually stunning, musical perfection and I still have the tingles from the rich power of the Metropolitan Opera House New York production  of Aida, relayed to the Tyneside Film Theatre in HD.

Then today I bought a subscription to the Library of previous productions, some 200, and watched the original production of Aida in 1989 with Dolora Zajick playing the same role as Princess Amneris as she had two decades later, yesterday.“

Now to these experiences I can add the 2012 production from the Met, viewed at the Cineworld Bolden at half the cost of that charged in Newcastle.

As a young man I had purchased an extended Play 45 record of the Rome Opera Chorus with the Triumphant march from Aida and after the mass audience performance at Earls Court had come to regard the opera as a spectacle with great interaction between powerful singers and a large chorus. It had taken  several decades to appreciate that this is a masterpiece for soloists and primarily a tragic triangle between two women and the man they  love.

This was a point well made by the new conductor at the Met Fabio Luisio in one of several interviews before and during the latest production which had two similar looking women with extraordinarily moving and powerful voices, the worldly experienced Russian Mezzo Soprano, Olga Borodina as the Princess and the mysterious Liudmyla Monastryrska in her debut role  outside the Latvian Opera House in the Ukraine, where she had toiled as a lead for many years unrecognised until now by the rest of the operatic world. Nothing appears to be published about this woman except that she had kept in contact with her singing teacher who was now ninety two. She needed the help of an interpreter for her brief interview..

The Opera is set in ancient Egypt as information reaches the court that the Ethiopians have invaded the country and Radamés, a favoured soldier, is entrusted with the responsibility of leading the army to drive out the enemy. The complication is that he in is love with Aida the Ethiopian slave assistant of the Princess  Amneris, the King’s daughter and heir, while the Princess is in love with him. The Princess urges her father to appoint Radames to defend the nation although she has suspicions that  her slave is also in love with her hero.

In addition to the three live performances I have also been fortunate to view via a Met Internet Subscription the 1989 production when the Princess was also played by Dolora Zajick, American by birth and who came to international attention as a top level performer with this role when in her late thirties and her voice with its power and range had fully developed. Then she also looked the passionate and jealous young woman so that in 2009, approaching her sixtieth year with the operatic frame to match, the first reaction was to be concerned at a portrayal of what is written in the libretto as a young Princes, especially if one did not know that she has sung the role to acclaim in a score of productions and some 250 performances and that it remains as strong and yet beautiful with a remarkable range. Her solo performances are breathtaking and rightly received the greatest applause in both performances experiences and applause which broke out in the cinema which is something I have not previously experienced since my childhood.

For the 2009 production the part of Radamés was played  by Johan Botha, a South African leading tenor who  has the build to match AIDA and Amneris and who then 54 was regarded as one of the great tenors of the present generation. However he cannot be compared with the 1989 production where the part was played by Placido Domingo then 50 and one of the most well known and loved tenor in the world, especially since the death of Pavarotti. Domingo has sung 128 roles, more than any other tenor, and opened the Metropolitan season 21 times, four more than Caruso.  In 1989 Aprile Millo played Aida when she was only 39 and proved she had a voice to match that of Domingo and Krajick and all three had a suburb dramatic presence which is often lacking in the productions which tour provincial theatres. The 2009 performance of Aida was played by Violeta Urmane, Urmanaviciute, a Lithuanian  aged 48.

Because of being the same generation the physical frames of the three singers connected in terms of passion and anguish  with its triangle of affections and conflict over nationality. What both sets of lead singers are able to accomplish is to make their performances so convincing that it should make young people rethink their attitudes to the older generation and their relationships. However having been excited and impressed by the performances of 2009 they were eclipsed by those of 1989 so I went to the Cineworld questioning if I was going to be disappointed.

In the present production the part of Radamés, the appointed army commander, is played by Roberto Alagna a man approaching his sixtieth year but who looks ten years younger with an extremely passionate and tender tenor voice. Used to powerful singers in the title role he was booed by some when he performed the role at La Scala Milan in 2006 and to the horror of the management he walked off the stage not to reappear. After the death of his first wife he married the great soprano Angela Gheorghiu but their relations became stormy to the extent that she refused to perform with him in the 2009 Metropolitan Production of Carmen which I also saw live and in truth felt he had  been miscast. The marriage has continued after separation and contrary to the audience reaction in Rome I thought he brought an important new dimension to the role and one which echoed the approach of the conductor. It has become more an opera of two parts

The second act tends to be that for which the reputation of the opera became established because of its visual spectacle. There is a vast cast of several hundred deployed to great effect. In addition to the Chorus there are about 100 individuals used  to represent the successful army and then the prisoners of War.  There are also dancers and animals in this instance horses specially trained to cope with the loud music, the singing and the marching. The tall, vast and cavernous stage at the Metropolitan is changed several times with scenery, weapons and uniforms which fill 17 pantechnicons. There are 150 stage hands required and the advantage of the relayed Met productions is that cameras show what happens in the two 30  minutes intervals. There are also some 40 to 50 make up artists and dressers also required, plus the stage management team and the full orchestra. Ticket sales account for half the production costs so on going private sponsorship and donations becomes essential as there is no public funding as in the UK.

Back to story and with Radames off to lead the army consecrated by the High Priest Ramfis at the Isis Temple  Aida is torn between anxiety for him and for her father the Ethiopian King, a fact which is unknown to the Egyptians.

In the first part of the second Act the Princess, having grown more suspicious of Aida tests by saying that Radamés has been killed and as a consequence Aida reveals her position, but hides her distress on learning that her people have been  defeated.

There is then the Triumphant March scene famous all over world because of its spectacle  with the climax when the prisoners are brought in and Aida sees her father, the king, in shackles. The Egyptian king offers Radamés anything he wishes so he pleads for the freedom for the slaves who are allowed to return home with the exception of Aida and her father who has said the King had died. The Egyptian King then throws the proverbial spanner in the works by giving Aida to Radamés in marriage, a gift which cannot be refused and which is to the great pleasure of Princess Amneris.

While there are half hour intervals between the first two acts, the changes between the third and fourth acts are made with the audience remaining in their seats. A feature of all Met Relays is that during the relays the lead singers are interviewed, by Renée Fleming, her  a lead soprano at the Opera house, followed by periods of 15 and 20 minutes where the audience can view the scene changers, followed by further interviews, in this instance a look at museum pieces of former productions of AIDA and a look at future productions in this 12 event relay season.

The final two acts are in major contrast to the second, concentrating on the relationship between the trio.  Amneris goes to Temple to pray until dawn and thus is in a position to overhear when Radamés and Aida meet in secret and he is persuaded by her to run away together after she has met up with her father and persuades her to try and find out the battle plans because his countryman have risen up and invaded once more to free their King and his daughter and gain revenge for the defeat and plundering of their country. Radamés, not aware of this aspect suggests they travel in a different  direction from the Egyptian army, unaware what he is doing as a consequence.

As soon as Radamés reveals the route plan, Aida‘s father reveals himself and he and his daughter beg Radamés to flee with them. He is horrified at having unwittingly given away the battle route information and when confronted by Amneris who has summoned the High Priest, he surrenders to their judgement. Their decision is for him to be entombed in the vaults below the temple, and this constitutes the final act after Amneris pleads with him to give up Aida and she will plead with her father to save him.  When he refuses she turns away from him, momentarily.

In the tomb Radamés finds that Aida having learned of the verdict has not accompanied her father and hidden in the tomb to wait for him. She explains that they will face death together in each other’s arms.

Meanwhile above them and unaware that the couple are together, the Princess is beyond consolation for having given Radamés over to the judgement of the Priests. While everything beforehand was outstanding it is the dramatic singing of the last act which for me  has taken operatic singing go a new height. There have been few  cultural experiences of a similar impact in my life, hearing traditional jazz first time in a Soho cellar,  hearing Verdi’s Requiem Mass at a Royal Albert Hall promenade season both when seventeen years old.  There have been other magical moments from the Live Aid Concert, to  the stage musicals Les Miserables and Miss Saigon, to the Bruce Springsteen concerts and to hearing Louis Armstrong playing half a century ago at the Davis Theatre in Croydon. I suspect that it was only from the accumulation of these and more general life experience emotional highs and lows than one can appreciate the magnificence of the voices and their emotional intensity.

“Then to be able to experience the original production using the same set and costumes and libretto added an even greater dimension to the experience. I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity and to now be able to experience more,” was how I the writing in 2009.

It is therefore against this benchmark that I most judge the latest production Borodina is good but no one can approach the emotional intensity of Zajick. I will need to experience the performance of the 1989 and 2009 roles of Aida again to compare with that of Liudmyla whose voice I thought matched that of Olga. For my Christmas present to myself  I have purchased the two DVDs which have become available together with the 2008 performance of Madam Butterfly.  Stefan Kocán was the priest, George Gagnidze played father and Miklos  Sebestyén the King.

It is because of the use of the camera close up that one is able to judge the emotional expressions which adds to the appreciation of singing where the exceptional artists are able to communicate emotional intensity through the voice as well as their technical abilities. Not therefore as good of  the performances of 1998 and 2009 but a very good experience.

Rigoletto

It is also time to write of my experience of watching a live relay at the Bolden Cineworld of Guiseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto from the Royal Opera House, London, and the 497th performance on Tuesday 12 April 2012 at 7.15. I was unfamiliar with the story or the production in the packed theatre although I overheard a conversation warning that it was raunchy.

In contrast to the Metropolitan and other great Opera House the Royal Opera House London had developed a reputation for staging challenging and at time controversial productions of the classics. The Opera was first performed in Venice in 1851. The inspiration for the work is the play by Victor Hugo Le roils s’amuse which depicts the king of France as an immoral and cynical womaniser. Instead of the King of France the opera features an Italian noble whose title although a real one had become extinct.

The opera open at the court of the Duke who sings about his pleasure in taking as many women as possible. I use taking than having because of his use of position and subterfuge to seduce everyone from whores to the wives of the courtiers. In the Royal Opera production members of court participate in an orgy with  loose women who  are topless with one naked as the act progresses together one full frontal male nude. Given the audience was primarily middle aged to elder, here were some gasps from those unprepared, although many like me I suspect had lived through the era of Hair.

The Duke is presently engaged in two ambitions. The first is to seduce the wife of the Count of Caprano and the second a virginal young woman he has recently seen at church.  The court is also interested in rumours that the deformed (hunchback) court jester Rigoletto has a lover because of visiting a house on a regular basis often late at night and without mentioning it to anyone in the court.  Rigoletto does not endear himself to the court especially as suggests arresting the husbands/ fathers of those the Duke wishes to seduce. In one instance the Duke arrests a father who utters a curse on the Duke and Rigoletto who is much affected.

From scene two of the first act the Opera changes its mood.  Rigoletto comes across an assassin who offers his service and considers that while the man kills with physical weapons, he uses the tongue to stab victims with its malice. He accept the suggestion of a group of disguised courtiers that he should help them in the kidnapping the Countess Coprano, taking her out of the orbit of the advancing Duke. They blindfold Rigoletto.  Meanwhile the Duke having trailed the Rigoletto’s daughter Gilda to her home and overhears the young women express her interest in  the young man at church who she hopes is not a noble man but someone poor such as student. He pretends to be so on making contact and gaining the support of her maidservant Giovanna who he sends away. Hearing sounds which she assumes her father returning she sends the Duke away declaring in her interest in him. The blindfolded Rigoletto then aids the group in kidnapping his daughter who they spirit away leaving him horrified when he realises he is at his home and his daughter has gone. He remembers the curse laid on him.

In the one scene second Act Rigoletto returns to the Palace believing it is the Duke who the most likely to have taken his daughter. In fact it is the Duke who learning what his courtiers have done rescues her and then declares his interest without disclosing his position. The courtiers make fun of Rigoletto for having made fun of then and when he explains about the loss of his daughter instead of owning up they beat him up but he manages to finds his distressed daughter who tells him to send everyone else away. Rigoletto convinced the Duke is behind the kidnapping talks of revenge but the girl pleads for the young man with whom she has become infatuated. As with Miranda in the Tempest both women have been kept away from young men and fall for the first male to show an interest.

In the third Act the Duke visits the Inn run by the assassin and his sister and he sings the famous aria La donna é mobile -women re fickle. He is heard by Gilda and her father who are passing by and she then witnesses him attempting to seduce the willing sister. The Duke has previously expressed genuine interest and loving concern for Gilda and a willingness to mend his ways at the commencement of the second Act but the availability of the woman is too much for him and he reverts to his natural ways.

Rigoletto bargains with the Assassin to kill the Duke who because of a storm  spends the night at the Inn.  Rigoletto persuades his daughter to leave the city, disguised wearing the clothes of a man. The sister has genuine affection for the Duke and on learning that her brother has been paid to kill him pleads with him not to do so but kill the first person available. Gilda overhears the plot and despite knowing the behaviour of the Duke sets out to save him by dressed as a man calling on the Inn.

Rigoletto returns to the Inn at midnight to remove the killed man in a sack to be dumped in the river. He has to see the body for his revenge to be complete and only then sees the body of his beloved daughter. He remembers the curse and collapses. Given that I was unaware of the story the ending is something of a shock although the emotions aroused are very different from those in the opening scene.

The opera is a tour de force for Dimitri Platinias as Rigoletto who made his name when playing the role with the Greek National Opera and this is his Convent Garden debut. I thought his performance outstanding. The Duke is played by the Italian Vittorio Griglo who once appeared in a version of West Side Story with James Goldofini before turning to Opera He made his debut at the Royal Opera House in  Faust as the lead. Gilda is played by Ekaterina Siurina having previously performed the role in a production at the Metropolitan.

Rigoletto

It is also time to write of my experience of watching a live relay at the Bolden Cineworld of Guiseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto from the Royal Opera House, London, and the 497th performance on Tuesday 12 April 2012 at 7.15. I was unfamiliar with the story or the production in the packed theatre although I overheard a conversation warning that it was raunchy.

In contrast to the Metropolitan and other great Opera House the Royal Opera House London had developed a reputation for staging challenging and at time controversial productions of the classics. The Opera was first performed in Venice in 1851. The inspiration for the work is the play by Victor Hugo Le roils s’amuse which depicts the king of France as an immoral and cynical womaniser. Instead of the King of France the opera features an Italian noble whose title although a real one had become extinct.

The opera open at the court of the Duke who sings about his pleasure in taking as many women as possible. I use taking than having because of his use of position and subterfuge to seduce everyone from whores to the wives of the courtiers. In the Royal Opera production members of court participate in an orgy with  loose women who  are topless with one naked as the act progresses together one full frontal male nude. Given the audience was primarily middle aged to elder, here were some gasps from those unprepared, although many like me I suspect had lived through the era of Hair.

The Duke is presently engaged in two ambitions. The first is to seduce the wife of the Count of Caprano and the second a virginal young woman he has recently seen at church.  The court is also interested in rumours that the deformed (hunchback) court jester Rigoletto has a lover because of visiting a house on a regular basis often late at night and without mentioning it to anyone in the court.  Rigoletto does not endear himself to the court especially as suggests arresting the husbands/ fathers of those the Duke wishes to seduce. In one instance the Duke arrests a father who utters a curse on the Duke and Rigoletto who is much affected.
From scene two of the first act the Opera changes its mood.  Rigoletto comes across an assassin who offers his service and considers that while the man kills with physical weapons, he uses the tongue to stab victims with its malice. He accept the suggestion of a group of disguised courtiers that he should help them in the kidnapping the Countess Coprano, taking her out of the orbit of the advancing Duke. They blindfold Rigoletto.  Meanwhile the Duke having trailed the Rigoletto’s daughter Gilda to her home and overhears the young women express her interest in  the young man at church who she hopes is not a noble man but someone poor such as student. He pretends to be so on making contact and gaining the support of her maidservant Giovanna who he sends away. Hearing sounds which she assumes her father returning she sends the Duke away declaring in her interest in him. The blindfolded Rigoletto then aids the group in kidnapping his daughter who they spirit away leaving him horrified when he realises he is at his home and his daughter has gone. He remembers the curse laid on him.

In the one scene second Act Rigoletto returns to the Palace believing it is the Duke who the most likely to have taken his daughter. In fact it is the Duke who learning what his courtiers have done rescues her and then declares his interest without disclosing his position. The courtiers make fun of Rigoletto for having made fun of then and when he explains about the loss of his daughter instead of owning up they beat him up but he manages to finds his distressed daughter who tells him to send everyone else away. Rigoletto convinced the Duke is behind the kidnapping talks of revenge but the girl pleads for the young man with whom she has become infatuated. As with Miranda in the Tempest both women have been kept away from young men and fall for the first male to show an interest.

In the third Act the Duke visits the Inn run by the assassin and his sister and he sings the famous aria La donna é mobile -women re fickle. He is heard by Gilda and her father who are passing by and she then witnesses him attempting to seduce the willing sister. The Duke has previously expressed genuine interest and loving concern for Gilda and a willingness to mend his ways at the commencement of the second Act but the availability of the woman is too much for him and he reverts to his natural ways.

Rigoletto bargains with the Assassin to kill the Duke who because of a storm  spends the night at the Inn.  Rigoletto persuades his daughter to leave the city, disguised wearing the clothes of a man. The sister has genuine affection for the Duke and on learning that her brother has been paid to kill him pleads with him not to do so but kill the first person available. Gilda overhears the plot and despite knowing the behaviour of the Duke sets out to save him by dressed as a man calling on the Inn.

Rigoletto returns to the Inn at midnight to remove the killed man in a sack to be dumped in the river. He has to see the body for his revenge to be complete and only then sees the body of his beloved daughter. He remembers the curse and collapses. Given that I was unaware of the story the ending is something of a shock although the emotions aroused are very different from those in the opening scene.

The opera is a tour de force for Dimitri Platinias as Rigoletto who made his name when playing the role with the Greek National Opera and this is his Convent Garden debut. I thought his performance outstanding. The Duke is played by the Italian Vittorio Griglo who once appeared in a version of West Side Story with James Goldofini before turning to Opera He made his debut at the Royal Opera House in  Faust as the lead. Gilda is played by Ekaterina Siurina having previously performed the role in a production at the Metropolitan.

Madam Butterfly in 3D and Miss Saigon soundtrack

The highlight of my 73rd birthday weekend was a 3D performance of Madame Butterfly with the Canadian Chinese Zhang Liping as Madam Butterfly and the experience was then followed by listening to the soundtrack of the stage musical Miss Saigon which is based on the Madam Butterfly story and where I have seen the stage show four times such was my enthusiasm for it.

It was a glorious sunny and warm day as I set off to go through the Tyne tunnel and indeed not a day for the inside of anywhere. I set off down the hill and was astonished to find that Ocean Road, the main thoroughfare between the town centre, passing the row of over a bed and breakfast hotels on one side and a similar number and more of restaurants on the other was blocked off.

On Monday morning because of a forecast of another good weather day I walked down and alongside the park before turning into ocean Road from the park end I discovered the cause of the blocking. The former public house and over recent year’s nightclub bar has almost been demolished. The closure of the building was no surprise as a number of other similar establishments have also been closed with one presently being turned into offices although even this work appears to have come to a halt. The demolition of the building is a surprise.

As I rounded the corner on my way to the Health centre for a blood test I was not surprised to see the John Wright centre boarded up. It was one of the first multi use centres for those with disabilities and in my time a chapel and a bar lounge had been added although its use was reduced with the creation of a modern work centre for those with a learning disability and the of visual disability creating their own centre. Given that in my time a purpose built centre embracing people with disabilities and the able bodied had been created in Jarrow and then in the late 1980’s a state of the art centre for multi disability use and for the elders was purpose built in Hebburn the financial justification for the three centres disappeared long ago if it ever existed. That they did reflect the finest aspect of a people based local democracy.

The exploration of what was going on meant I arrived later than intended at the Health centre and found 12 others before me although by the time the second block of ten people were called into the waiting area for the tests the 29th individual had been reached. However even with only two chairs the process was speedy and I was out within half an hour of arriving with time to head for a bacon roll and coffee at the Wetherspoons’ and an excellent coffee it was and then some shopping at the supermarket.

On Sunday I used my new Tyne Tunnel electronic payment disk for the first time. This is a solid plastic disk which fits to the windscreen with a sucker and which registers at the any of the barriers as having paid £1.24 instead of the cash charge of £1.40. One adds amounts in minimum of £15 which provides 6 return journeys about my average need for a year giving and overall saving of only £2 but more significant if not having to find the small change and a faster passage especially now that queuing has been eliminated with the opening of both tunnels. The tag costs £11.40 to provide and is made in China, where else?

I have re-examined my previous reporting on Madam Butterfly where I first saw a relay also on a birthday three years ago. That was a live relay from the Metropolitan New York and then I watched again on Internet connected TV. The 3D version is a filmed event specially constructed to give the impression of a performance before a live audience but where the need for close ups and on stage movement makes filming with the special cameras impossible with an audience although the audience reaction is added at the end.

There is only a limited build up this time and at one level nothing of the audience excitement before the raising of the curtain. Similarly there were no intervals with only a brief pause between the three acts so the performance lasts two hours instead of the usual two and three quarters although traditionally the opera is performed with only one interval. However this had the impact of increasing the emotional tension and sense of dooms despite everyone being familiar with the story as few in the well filled cinema theatre were under fifty. For some reason there was no lighting which made locating seats a problem as a consequence.

The two productions are significantly different with the Minghella production creating a vivid visual presentation which included the use of puppets and dancers as well as a fair size chorus of wedding guests of relatives and Geisha girl friends. His widow attended the New York Metropolitan Performance.

All the action in the Covent Garden production takes place within the confines of the minimalist rented home with the no furniture apart from mats for sitting or sleeping, storage facility under the stage and the occasional use of a small table.

One could argue that this is the one Opera where 3D has nothing to offer although I thought the impact of the additional dimension is that that one has a greater sense of the dramatic and of being on stage rather than as a member of an audience. This is also true for the 3D Carmen production but where the action enables great camera and visual creativity.

It is important not to forget that is the story of an innocent 15 year old Geisha trained Japanese girl Cio Cio San and a mature Naval Officer who these days would be accurately described a paedophile sex tourist and whose conduct is far more reprehensible that of the innocent GI in Miss Saigon when the new bar girl is bought for him by his best friend.

Butterfly was played Patricia Racette in the New York Production, a bulky opera singer but who nevertheless acted with the innocence of an adolescent, a waiting lover and a young mother prepared to sacrifice herself for her child. Zhang Liping is now in in her early forties having played the role to great acclaim in her early thirties and like Racette has the remarkable ability to act with the mannerisms of a young girl, but nevertheless is aware she is far from the child bride to which Pinkerton is drawn.

There was an important difference in the performances of Marcello Giordino as Pinkerton and that now of James Valenti. Giordino is also a bulky opera star which made the relationship in the Met production somehow more plausible if one forgets the difference in ages. Valenti is strikingly tall and very much the educated and sophisticated naval officer. My only problem was the lack of a connection between him and Butterfly You did get the impression that he felt passion for his bride although he is convincing about his guilt and remorse later.

In the opening of the Opera Captain Pinkerton makes it plain that he considers this to be a fake marriage, an experience before he settles down with a wife family in the USA. The girl is sold to him by an unscrupulous marriage broker who is not different from the Bar owner in Miss Saigon, finding virgin in the countryside who will become his premium Miss Saigon bride for the endless stream of lecherous GI’s. Moreover Pinkerton is warned by the Consul that the girl is taking the relationship seriously especially when she is denounced by an elder and who insists she is cut off from all her relations. This makes Pinkerton a dislikeable man from the outset. He is in a rush to complete the formalities and aghast when the relatives arrive and cannot get rid of them quick enough. Although 15 his bride has been trained as a Geisha with appropriate social graces and a personal maid and companion Susuki and while the performance of Helen Schneiderman is world class it cannot compare with that of Maria Zajick, the extraordinary Mezzo Soprano whose signature role are those in Aida but also of Susuki.

The first Act comprises the arrival of Pinkerton at the rented House on a hill overlooking the Nagasaki Harbour; I have always felt there is great irony here with the two rapes of the population of this once fair city. Pinkerton is brought by the marriage broker played by Robin Leggate and the US Consul to ensure the proprieties are maintained and who is troubled by the proposed marriage because he understands the different cultural perspectives.

Unlike the majority of the girls who understand the impact of being a Geisha on the rest of their lives, Suzuki comes from a wealthy family of standing who have fallen on hard time, and waiting in the wings is a young Japanese warrior of good birth wanting to marry her. In this production he is played as an older business man seeking a young attractive mistress no different from Pinkerton.

In Miss Saigon the girl is also from a village whose family fall on hard times with the death of her father. She was promised by to a young Communist warrior who wants her as a proper bride and not as a concubine. They are to take different paths in Opera and Musical.



The American Consul, the marriage broker and Pinkerton are all aware that the wedding ceremony is a façade to enable him to enjoy the experience of the young woman while he is in port, and that whatever he says or promises he has no intention of returning or establishing a permanent relationship. He admits his love em and leave them, a girl in every port, approach, the Consul who warns, from his knowledge of the girl that she is likely to put all her trust in him and take the marriage seriously. Pinkerton notes that the contract can be terminated by him at any time without notice or penalty. It is important to appreciate the cultural and language divide between the two, and the role of the Geisha in Japanese society at that time. This is the tragedy of the opera story.

The situation in Saigon is very different and apart from the exotic location there are have always been bars and bar girls as well as brothels catering for the soldier as there are now for the sex tourist. The soldier here is just as inexperienced of life as his paid bride for the night and for him this one night becomes just an important as he is to her. This is the difference between an experience based on infatuation rather than lust. Pinkerton says all the right words but we know from the outset he does not mean them.

A major in ingredient to the first act is that Madam Butterfly as she has become is that in order to adapt and fit into her husband’s life she has gone to the local mission to become a Christian thus alienating herself for her uncle, the Bonze (Buddhist Monk) who is also one of her uncles and from her other relatives. It is this aspect of the relationship with horrifies her family and alienates her from them not the likely temporary nature of the relationship. It is the way of things just as street children have become the way of things in Indian cities.

Suzuki quickly becomes her confident, mother figure and ally. Cio Cio San has had some education and on being told that she is as beautiful as a butterfly by Pinkerton she responds from knowledge that some men in the West collect Butterflies destroy Butterflies to which Pinkerton explains that they do pin them so as to stop them flying away.

Minghella divided the second act into two parts, which the usual way the Opera is presented in order to achieve maximum dramatic effect. In the first part of the second act three years have passed and Butterfly has remained constant in love and expectation that what he said about returning was truthful and she spends time taking note of the arrivals in the port from her vantage point in the hillside. Suzuki is loyal but sceptical and tries to help her to be more realistic especially as their money begins to run out. The marriage broker brings the young warrior who wants to marry her despite the relationship she has had with the American. She sends them both away. In the Convent Garden production he brings the business man who makes it plain she is to be his concubine and she sends him away clinging to her belief in Pinkerton and that the USA and not Japan is her country.

It is in this middle part of story that the musical Miss Saigon significantly changes. The young man is besotted with the girl and with the help of his friend and with his savings goes to live with her effectively deserting marrying and with the intention that she will become his lifelong woman. It is only because of the impending fall of Saigon and the sudden departure of the Americans that their relationship ends. He has to take one of the last helicopters out of the city while she is among the hundreds left behind to their fate.

Before this the man with whom she was betrothed as a child arrives and is horrified to find out what has happened but his feelings for her remain and he warns both about their fate. The bar owner in Saigon is also on his way out to the closest place where he can continue to trade. Both young women are abandoned but for very different reasons and both wait. It is in Madam Butterfly that she sings one of the great and much loved Operatic Arias of all time One Fine day “Un Bel di”. There is a similar musical number in Miss Saigon although of very different quality but is nevertheless as haunting.

There is also the visit of Warrior in Miss Saigon. This is one of the colourful and subsequently moving moments in the stage show. He comes to take her full of the triumph of the Communist success in driving out the invaders from his country is then is horrified to find that she has a blue eyed son, her pride and her joy and her reason for surviving. He had come to take her and not the child. Her solution is to kill the man with the revolver given to her by her husband before he was forced to leave.

The same scene is played differently in Madam Butterfly with the Consul coming to say he has had a letter in which Pinkerton is explaining his intention not to return but she misinterprets every word which the Consul tries to explain to her and he cannot bear to tell her the truth. When she produces her son all he can do is to leave and report the position to Pinkerton. The child is blue eye and fair haired and adorable. He is destined to break many female hearts on stage, in film and in life in the future.

Pinkerton’s ship arrives and the two women prepare for his visit. Susuki who had her doubts and expresses concern over their rapidly diminishing funds and favoured the match with the businessman as a solution is caught up in the excitement and goes to collect flowers from thee garden to cover the inside of their home. She, Butterfly and child sit waiting expectant for hour upon hour and throughout the night. There is the famous humming chorus and her aria of belief and hope, with similar number in Miss Saigon

In the stage show the war has ended and the Bar owner has discovered the girl and her son and sees this as his ticket to the USA. It he is who alerts the friend of the husband who is visiting to help the children of G’I left behind with an important political song about their fate. It is he who in turn informs his married friend and who in turn admits the relationship to his wife of three years and to whom he has said nothing of his affair and local marriage. There is an important exchange between husband and wife in Miss Saigon that we would expect in the 20th century. It is the expectations of the bar owner which takes the musical into the number The American dream symbolised by a Cadillac is brought on stage.

Butterfly, exhausted goes to bed with her son and Pinkerton the Consul with Pinkerton’s wife waiting outside arrive early to talk to the maid and asking her to break the news to Butterfly and that he has come her son. Although devastated and heartbroken for her mistress Suzuki agrees. Pinkerton is consumed with guilt at what he has done and cannot cope with the reality of the situation and goes off leaving his wife and the Consul talking with Suzuki but before they can leave Butterfly arrives and immediately senses correctly what is going on. She agrees to hand over the child on condition that Pinkerton comes in person for him. As he approaches she commit suicide using the knife which her father used, “to die with honour.”

This is where the Opera when brilliantly sung and acted can devastate an audience no matter how many times they have seen the show and know the story. In its own way Miss Saigon also has a similar impact because the audience has been caught up with the beautiful music and glittering sets and there is horror and universal guilt at the death of the young woman sacrificing herself so that her child will be taken to the USA and have the kind of life she once dreamed for herself.

In many respects it was not the kind of experience for a celebration weekend and affected me as I emerged into the evening sunshine. It was spring but I saw the winter of my life.

Satyagraha (2)

Now to Satyagraha as the three disk audio set has been listen to twice. As I stated in part one my thesis was that the music and voice will stand up without the visuals. This is proven. It is a haunting and unusual piece of music which as with all music one has to be in the right mood to enjoy unless one is a professional musician

The first act first scene has Gandhi arriving in South Africa wearing the suit of the day and holding his copy of the Gita and the music, the voice and the visuals attempts to communicate what he feels as much as what he thinks. The scene is a mythical battlefield the Kuru Field of Justice in which according to the verse sung by Ghandi all the rulers of the world are assembled with the main character Krishna representing God addressed by Arjuna who recognising friends and relatives among both the armies assembled is filled with compassion. Arjuna sings where in my judgement the focus is on the line With mind perplexed concerning right and wrong I ask you which is the better course? Krishna answers Be wise in matters of death and duty and then a line of basic Hinduism... For sure death to all that’s born, sure is birth to all that dies and for this, you have no cause to grieve. For me this is also core of Satyagraha and also fundamentalist Catholicism that you act, you commit because you need to because you believe it is right and important to do so irrespective of the consequence for you, and which you anticipate could be painful and terminal, but which you accept because it is for a great good which you also hope others will recognise and share but if they do not that does not lessen or alter the conviction or the purpose. Krishna also says brace yourself ready for the fight. So you will bring no evil on yourself. In fact the Christian pacifist rather than the direct actionist willingness accepts the evil of others on themselves in the same way that Christ accepted and absorbed the evil others. The pacifist stands their ground when challenged whatever the outcome while the direct actionist intervenes in a non violent way and which often provokes violent retaliation which is then absorbed.

The Chorus representing Krishna reprimands the feint hearted and declares “Give up this vile feint heartedness. Stand up chastier of your foes to which Gandhi responds “Hold pleasure and pain profit and loss, victory and defeat to be the same: then brace yourself ready for the fight. So will you bring no evil on yourself”

My understanding is that the scene is designed to represent the beginning of the transition for a new lawyer brought to a country help out in a case between two business families who becomes aware of the plight of the Indian population regarded with suspicion and hostility by the predominant white and indigenous black populations.

It was the Russian Writer Tolstoy who established the first collective farm rather than the Communists or the Chinese but as with all political and social movements they only work if they are collectives of independent and committed volunteers. Once they imposed on those who are unwilling or lack understanding or committed they are doomed to failure and become contradiction such as anarchist organisation! I am not sure if the second scene is mythical or real because it features Gandhi creating a collective farm for Indians in South Africa.

Gandhi: Between theory and practice, some talk as if they were two- making a separation and a difference between them, Yet wise men know that both can be gained in applying oneself whole heartedly to one. For the high estate attained by men of contemplative theory, the same state achieve the men of action. So act as the ancients of days old, performing works as spiritual exercise.

Soloists: Such a one is honourable who gives his mortal powers to worthy work not seeking gain. Do the allotted task for which one is fit, for work is more excellent than idleness and the body’s life proceeds not, lacking work. Such an earthly task do free from desire, you will perform a high task.

When the motives and the fruits of man’s actions are freed from desire, his works are burned clean from wisdom’s fire, the white fire of truth. When he casts off attachment to his deeds, a man embarks on his work ever content, on none dependent, With thought and giving up of all possessions, he cares for his bodily maintenance without excess; taking what chance may bring surmounting all dualities, the same in success and failure.

In the third and final scene of first act The Vow 1906 the British Government proposed a law which required the registration of all Indians and which then entitled the authorities to stop and search including entry into any household to establish that the individual possessed the registration and was not an illegal. The State of Arizona is proposing a similar system for Hispanics and I could see without the coalition a Tory government proposing similar as the Labour Identity card was intended to establish. In South Africa Gandhi through his newspaper and speeches encouraged the Indian Community to oppose the Black Act and the act closes with a Vow to oppose.

The world is not for the doubting man. For nothing on earth resembles wisdom’s power to purify and this a man find’s in time within himself. (I believe that the world will be a better place for more people if those in power doubt more the value of actions which attempt to control and affect others for their own good without first testing and assessing outcomes over periods appropriate for the proposed level and extent of change). (My experience is that in general the female, especially those who have relationships with men, particularly who also give birth to new life gain wisdom quicker than most of the male mind and inclinations).

I also have major reservations against the text: Whoever gives up a deed because it causes pain or because he shrinks from bodily pain, follows the way of darkness, knowing nothing of self surrender and which suggests that if the work in accord with the scripture then the surrender will lead to goodness. This has been used to justify the act of the terrorist suicide bomber. It ought to be morally wrong to knowingly cause any other human being harm unless except in individual, family and national self defence.

Chorus demands that These works of sacrifice must be done. They continue with the dangerous claim that sacrifice for the Gods leads to then sustaining you in return. There is a truism that you have to love to be able to be loved but when it comes to self sacrifice you should only do it because it is right and without any expectation or wish for a return on the investments of the action. It is best that you have no expectation just as while it is right to love without condition here should be no expectation of reciprocity on the part of any individual or individuals collectively.

The first scene of Act 2 commences in 1896 thus going back to the early of Gandhi in South Africa and is headed
Confrontation and Rescue: Mrs. Alexander:

The devilish folk, in them there is no purity, no morality, no truth. So they say the world has not a law nor order, nor a lord. And, thinking this, all those dark minded ones of little wit, embark on cruel and violent deeds, the curses of their kind. Maddened by pride and hypocrisy, not caring right up to death, they have no other aim than to satisfy their pleasure, convinced that is all. So speak fools.” So speaks today’s generation.
Chorus:
This I have gained today, this whim I’ll satisfy; this wealth is mine and much more too will be mine as time goes on. He was an enemy of mine, I’ve killed him, and many another I’ll kill. I’m master here. I take my pleasure as I will; I’m strong and happy and successful. I’m rich and of good family. Who else can match himself with me?

Scene 2 moves forward again to 1906 and is headed Indian Opinion: Kallenbach and Miss Schlesen:

With senses freed, the wise man should act, longing to bring about the welfare and coherence of the world. Therefore, perform unceasingly the works that must be done, for the man detached who labours on to the highest must win through. This is how the saints attained success. Moreover, you should embrace action for the upholding, the welfare of your own kind. Whatever the noblest does, that too will others do: the standard that he sets all the world will follow.

The second part of this scene is headed Kasturbai, Mrs. Naidoo and Parsi Rustomji:

Act as God does, for the sake of others: “In the three worlds there is nothing I need do, nor anything unattained that I need to gain, yet action is the element in which I move. If I were not tirelessly to busy Myself with works, then would men everywhere follow in my footsteps, sinking back. If I were not to do my work these worlds would fall to ruin and I would be a worker in confusion.”

The final scene iii moves forward two years 1908 and is headed Protest : Gandhi’s Prayer: The Lord said:

Let a man feel hatred for no being, let him be friendly, compassionate; done with thoughts of “I” and “mine,” the same in pleasure as in pain, long suffering.
His is self restrained, his purpose firm, let his mind and soul be steeped in Me, let him worship Me with love, then will I love him in return.

That man I love from whom the people do not shrink and who does not shrink from them, who is free from exaltation, fear, impatience, and excitement.

I love the man who has no expectation, is pure and skilled, indifferent, who has no worries and gives up all selfish enterprise, loyal-devoted to me.

I love the man who hates not nor exults, who mourns not nor desires, who puts away both pleasant and unpleasant things, who is loyal-devoted-and-devout.

I love the man who is the same to friend and foe, the same whether he be respected or despised, the same in heat and cold, in pleasure as in pain, who has put away attachment and remains unmoved by praise or blame, who is taciturn, content with whatever comes his way, having no home, of steady mind, but loyal-devoted-and-devout.

But as for those who reverence these deathless words of righteousness which I have just now spoken, putting their faith in them, making Me their goal my loving devotees, these I do love exceedingly.”

The second Interval is a welcome opportunity to absorb and reflect on my experience.

The third Act lasts the better part of one Hour and comprises two parts of one scene 1913 the New Castle March first with Kasturbai and Mrs. Naidoo. It features Martin Luther King on a pedestal address a crowd before him to the back stage and who we do not see. When the Act commences he homes into an opening in the corrugated iron surround at centre stage.
As the Act progresses the corrugated iron work is slowly slid back to reveal King on the pedestal bathed in light oblivious to the singing and the music and the action front stage.

In what for others is night, therein is the man of self-restraint wide awake, separate from passion and hate, self-possessed and drawing near to calm serenity. This is the athlete of the spirit, whose ground remains unmoved, whole soul stands firmly on it. This is the fixed, still state which sustains even at the time of death the athletes of the spirit, who even then set forth, some to return, some never to return. Outstanding is he whose soul views in the self same way comrades and enemies, loving all alike.

The second part is a Gandhi solo:

The Lord said, I have passed through many a birth and many have you. I know them all but you do not. Yet by my creative energy, I consort with Nature and come to be in time. Whenever the law of righteousness withers away and lawlessness arises, then do I generate myself on earth. I come into being age after age and take a visible shape and move a man with men for the protection of good, thrusting the evil back and setting virtue on her seat again.”

Gandhi knew these words and the other verses by heart, You do not have to do likewise to appreciate the way Philip Glass has created the music and integrated the verses.

The sets, the various huge Puppets the various acrobats on stilts or flying creature devices and the cellotape and fire are all visual devices which distract as well as entertain. There is an element of head banging body flinging hard rock in which the total being is thrust into the music so that individual identity is lost and merges with the experience of the moment. Thus it was for me with participation in non violence action when there was no fear and no pain and I felt myself part of a moment and a purpose

Satyagraha (1)

Discovering only this week that Philip Glass’s opera Satyagraha was to be shown on Live HD cinema relay from the Metropolitan Opera House at the Cineworld Bolden on Saturday evening 19th November 2011 at 6pm, I was filled with excitement and apprehension in equal measure.

Philip Glass is regarded as one of the most important composers of the 20th century but also as a minimalist and I knew beforehand that the Opera is in Sanskrit which in itself is not a problem as most opera as are not sang in the English language. There are always excellent sub titles included although sometimes these can be intrusive to the visual appreciation.

In this instance the libretto does not tell a traditional story but uses lines from 700 verse Hindu scripture the Bhagavad Gita which are constantly repeated in what I discovered and can be describe as musical and visual scenes which have the form of a slow moving tableaux reflecting the inner calm and peace at what one is doing.

It was in 1959, when I was twenty years that I paid attention to the life and teachings of Mahatma Ghandi and purchased the UNESCO published edition of his life and work All Men are Brothers. In fact the day was 1st December and I wrote on an opening blank page. “This day shall be remembered annually as the day from which the way became clear. May the light always shine the way and may you always give courage, strength and humility to serve you until the end.”

I have not recorded when during that extraordinary period of 18 months that I managed to buy in England for twelve shilling and six pence one of the 1951 2000 limited edition first printing of Satyagraha by the Jivanji Dahyabhi Desai Navajivan Press in Ahmedabad.
The writings led not only to my participation in the civil disobedience movement but to adopting non violence as a form of protest but not the way of life contained in Satyagrapha although had I the confidence and the skills to support myself I would have joined a community espousing the principles..

It was during the six month voluntary prison sentence that I discussed with colleagues the idea of undertaking a reverse direction Jarrow type march which would commence from Trafalgar Square at the end of the Easter four day March from Aldermaston to Holy Loch in the South West of Scotland which was to become the home of the United States nuclear warhead Polaris Nuclear Missile submarine. The intention was as with the salt marches to gather a human tide of supporters as progress was made with the objective in this instance that the UK should unilaterally abandon the possession and potential use of weapons of mass human destruction.

Although the Direct Action Committee against Nuclear War sponsored the event which was also subsequently supported by the Lord Russell’s and Ralph Scheonman’s Committee of 100 I debated with Pat Arrowsmith by correspondence my naive belief that it was possible to translate the Gandhian experience into 1960’s Britain. She was right of course and although the six week march did attract support from the communities visited and a Daily Mail journalist was embedded, the general public did not join in numbers although the finale which I helped to organise as a field officer over the final four weeks was an spectacular events with thousands witnessing and world wide publicity, the primary purpose failed.

I stayed up until 2 am on Friday night working on a study of the transcript of the contributions from three important core participants to the Leveson Inquiry - The National Union of Journalists, the Guardian Newspapers and the group of 51 victims.

I rose and was back at my desk around 9 and after a short night of interrupted sleep wishing I had decided to work on and I was not sure what condition I would be in to attend the Opera relay. I ended the work around 3pm having completed a piece on the attempt by Associated Newspapers to constrain the role of the Assessors and impose on the Inquiry someone considered sympathetic to their cause and then the important contribution from Michele Stanistreet of the NUJ. I listened to the first part of Newcastle’s visit to Manchester City in the Premiership and then got myself ready deciding to get to the cinema before the traffic from the Stadium of Light joined in the road to the cinema from Cleadon Village en route to the A19 dual carriage road to the Tyne Tunnel.

As anticipated the car and cinema’s entrance were full of excited young children and teenagers going to the two films of the weekend, the two and three dimensional showings of a new film about Christmas and six screens given over to the opening weekend of the first part of the final part of the Twilight saga of vampires and werewolves. I think there were only two other films on in the evening because of the demand for the latter, an indication of the nature of the British Youth of today. I also anticipated that there would be plenty of seats available in the small theatre showing the relay and I was able to select a mid row seat on my own just below midway in the seating towards the screen.

There was time to purchase some liquorice and a carton of mushrooms from Asda and then relax in the upstairs lounge bar after checking the prices of ice creams, pop corn and drinks which continue in their astronomical rise in price. I had no intention of purchasing, just curious. A tube of Pringles Crisps rated £3 with special offers at supermarkets from time to time at £1. You could get a two scoop ice cream for £2.20 but promotions cost £4 to £5 and similarly the pop corn drinks seemed to range from £6.50 to £8,50 for combinations. All stuff which if you wished could be purchased from the adjacent supermarket at substantially less.

In the bar lounge I became concerned at the behaviour of who appeared to be a father with a eight to nine year old girl and a teenage elder brother. The girl waited on her own while the menfolk purchased a coffee and a bottle of Pepsi for themselves. The teenager proceeded to drink and pour in a glass more than three quarters of the bottle pretending to offer the girl the remainder from time to time. Eventually the father intervened and snatched the bottle from the teenager which he gave to the increasingly distressed girl. It was another insight into family behaviour without the presence of the girl‘s mother and I wondered which of the films they were going to see.

As the other twenty four people attending the relay sat behind me other than a couple who clung to one end of my row against the wall I was able to recognise the majority from my visit at the end of last season and wondered if they were prepared for such an usual operatic form. It was evident from the comments at end of the first act they were not. On reflection I should have been better prepared to have maximised by enjoyment

Whether because of its unusual nature or it is a new season innovation in addition to the written notes handed by a member of staff just before the performance commenced the main structure and content of the opera appeared on screens before the relay commenced. There are acts with the third lasting one hour and two other intervals which means a three hours over performance spread over four hours.

The first two acts each have three scenes, some from the life of Gandhi in South Africa and some fictitious although to describe them as scenes is inaccurate because a scene usually means a chronological sequence of words in voice and orchestral music. In this instance I suggest each scene is a slow moving tableaux, with the words verses from the Gita reflecting the stillness and inner peace required of the Satyagraha.

The set comprise a single circular structure of a corrugated wall, with apertures which open from time to time at different levels as well as a central floor level opening and central part can slide back to the wings. There are five four human components. Gandhi, a tenor played by Richard Croft who communicates the strength of purpose throughout, There are other eight soloists, a second tenor, two sopranos, two mezzo Sopranos, a baritone and two basses. The chorus also so functions as South Africans and Indians.

There is also a 12 person ensemble of aerialists, puppeteers and stilt walkers. The Puppets are huge sometime filling the stage. I was not convinced by the their role and wonder if the opera would have been better without them and that they were there to please an audience used to experiencing visual treats. There was one device which I thought meaningful and which I will comment more within sequence.

In addition windows remained open in during each act to reveal figures which influenced or who were influenced by Gandhi Act one Tolstoy with whom Gandhi corresponded, Rabindranath Tagore who shared in his work and Martin Luther King Jnr who is seen standing on a plinth addressing a crowds with his back to the audience and who was influence in his ideas and approaches by Gandhi.

The first Act first scene has Gandhi arriving in South Africa wearing the suit of the day and holding his copy of the Gita and the music, the voice and the visuals attempts to communicate what he feels as much as what he thinks. The scene is a mythical battlefield the Kuru Field of Justice in which according to the verse sung by Ghandi all the rulers of the world are assembled with the main character Krishna representing God addressed by Arjuna who recognising friends and relatives among both the armies assembled is filled with compassion.

Arjuna sings; With mind perplexed concerning right and wrong I ask you which is the better course? Krishna answers Be wise in matters of death and duty” and then a line of basic Hinduism... “For sure death to all that’s born, sure is birth to all that dies and for this, you have no cause to grieve.” For me this is also core of Satyagraha and also of the fundamentalist Catholicism that you act, you commit because you need to because you believe it is right and important to do so irrespective of the consequence for you, and which you anticipate could be painful and terminal, but which you accept because it is for a great good which you also hope others will recognise and share but if they do not that does not lessen or alter the conviction or the purpose.

Krishna also says “brace yourself ready for the fight. So you will bring no evil on yourself.” I suggest that in fact the pacifist practitioner of non violence action accepts the evil of others on themselves in the same way that Christ accepted and absorbed the evil others and forgave them. The pacifist stands their ground when challenged whatever the outcome while the direct actionist intervenes in a non violent way and which often provokes violent retaliation which is then absorbed.

The Chorus representing Krishna reprimands the feint hearted and declares “Give up this vile feint heartedness. Stand up chastier of your foes to which Gandhi responds “Hold pleasure and pain profit and loss, victory and defeat to be the same: then brace yourself ready for the fight. So will you bring no evil on yourself” it is only over the past two decades that I have understood the paradox of the duality.

My understanding is that the scene is designed to represent the beginning of the transition for a new lawyer brought to a country to help out in a case between two business families who becomes aware of the plight of the Indian population regarded with suspicion and hostility by the predominant white and indigenous black populations.

It was the Russian Writer Tolstoy who established the first collective farm rather than the Communists or the Chinese but as with all political and social movements the concept only works if they are collectives of independent and committed volunteers. Once they imposed on those who are unwilling or lack understanding or committed they are doomed to failure and become contradictions such as anarchist organisation! I am not sure if the second scene is mythical or real because it feature Gandhi creating a collective farm for Indians in South Africa.

Gandhi: Between theory and practice, some talk as if they were two- making a separation and a difference between them, Yet wise men know that both can be gained in applying oneself whole heartedly to one. For the high estate attained by men of contemplative theory, the same state achieve the men of action. So act as the ancients of days old, performing works as spiritual exercise.

Soloists: Such a one is honourable who gives his mortal powers to worthy work not seeking gain. Do the allotted task for which one is fit, for work is more excellent than idleness and the body’s life proceeds not, lacking work. Such an earthly task do free from desire, you will perform a high task.

When the motives and the fruits of man’s actions are freed from desire, his works are burned clean from wisdom’s fire, the white fire of truth. When he casts off attachment to his deeds, a man embarks on his work ever content, on none dependent, With thought and giving up of all possessions, he cares for his bodily maintenance without excess; taking what chance may bring surmounting all dualities, the same in success and failure.

This begins to sound like a commercial for contemporary conservatism, the value of work even if its unpaid and acceptance of your allotted palace in society. Ghandi’s starting point became feed others before you feed yourself and clothe others before you clothe yourself with the purpose of feeding and clothing everyone. He was not a supporter of passivity or acceptance of the status quo.

The verse also seems to assume that every individual is of the same value to society which is clearly not the case and is why human beings basically want to be regarded for their different contributions but fairly, just as working for survival individual and family is different from working on something which is intrinsically of value and meaning as is freedom from with freedom to.

We saw want happened in China when everyone was sent to collectives and the middle class eliminated or sent to work on the land. While the population stopped starving there was no progress in the economic and social advancement of the people just as in Russia huge sections of the population became slaves of the state, instead of slaves to estates where the owners were often benign, with no choice or opportunity to be and live differently and where those given choice and opportunity was not based on merit or assessed potential but on ones relationships to the Party and dictatorship administrations including military and police.
While I share with Gandhi that to take on the role as a teacher, a guide, an authority one must deny the animalistic passions and desires, the difficulties can never be underestimated or that this should become a prescription for the majority or everyone. It is a question of self enlightenment and understanding but which is only achieved through a long process of experience which should include experience within the world of human interactions and activities and well as separate from them. What I came to object to is one person persuading another to undertake an activity without seeking out the implications of that activity. I would say to staff I may ask you to go over the top after me but only after I have explained to you why and that both us of may not come back, or come back lifelong wounded. I was fortunate in reaching that conclusion early life during my experiences in the those two years of exclusive direct action involvement fifty years ago.

In the third and final scene of first act The Vow of 1906, the British Government proposed a law which required the registration of all Indians and which then entitled the authorities to stop and search including entry into any household to establish that the individual possessed the registration and was not an illegal. The State of Arizona is proposing a similar system for Hispanics and I could see without the coalition a Tory government proposing similar as the Labour Identity card was intended to establish. In South Africa Gandhi through his newspaper and speeches encouraged the Indian Community to oppose the Black Act and the Operatic first act closes with a Vow to oppose to new legislation.

The world is not for the doubting man. For nothing on earth resembles wisdom’s power to purify and this a man find’s in time within himself. (I believe that the world will be a better place for more people if those in power doubt more the value of actions which attempt to control and affect others for their own good without first testing and assessing outcomes over periods appropriate for the proposed level and extent of change). (My experience is that in general the female, especially those who have relationships with men, especially those who give birth to new life gain wisdom quicker than most of the male of mind and inclinations).

I also have major reservations against the text: Whoever gives up a deed because it causes pain or because he shrinks from bodily pain, follows the way of darkness, knowing nothing of self surrender and which suggests that if the work in accord with the scripture then the surrender will lead to goodness. This has been used to justify the act of the terrorist suicide bomber. It ought to be morally wrong to knowingly cause any other human being harm except in individual, family and national self defence.

Chorus demands that These works of sacrifice must be done. They continue with the dangerous claim that sacrifice for the Gods leads to them sustaining you in return. There is a truism that you have to love to be able to be loved but when it comes to self sacrifice you should only do it because it is right and without any expectation or wish for a return on the investments of the action. It is best that you have no expectation just as while it is right to love without condition there should be no expectation of reciprocity on the part of any individual or individuals collectively.

It was during the first Act that the participants commence to strip themselves of their earthly possession by putting a garment onto a dangling hanger which then rises which I thought was a good effect. The audience is prepared for the nature of artistic experience by watching and listening without the benefit of subtitling and on reflection I wonder if the experience would be better without the subtitling or much of the visuals as provided through an audio disk. I have checked an purchased the disks for £11.88 from Amazon post free within a two day delivery. I shall stop now to put on a late lunch at 3pm, a seasoned chop with cooked fresh carrots, onion and parsnip with left over tinned new potatoes, watch a recording of the X factor and then do some work on the Rush Bridger opening statement to Leveson on behalf of Guardian Newspapers. With tomorrow devoted to the live testimony of the first victims at the Leveson Inquiry I am not sure when I will be able to tackle the second and third Acts. And the background work of Philip Glass. It could be that I will have listened to the music and voice which is alas is not longer in my head and upon without which the writing is sterile.