Can you introduce us to your role with OHP this year?
I’m directing The Merry Widow and Trial by Jury, the latter being one half of a double bill with a new commission, A Matter of Misconduct! I’ve also written the spoken libretto for Widow, to go with David Eaton’s brilliant lyrics.
This year marks your tenth year since you first started your relationship with OHP (performing as The Immigration Officer in Jonothan Dove’s Flight in 2015). What is your favourite part about returning to OHP?
I can’t believe it’s been 10 years! It’s very easy to say why I love returning to this great company; the genuine feeling that OHP is a family, the collective desire to always do our very best work together, and the great atmosphere of Opera Holland Park Theatre itself. It is completely unique.
This year, you will be directing two operas for OHP, The Merry Widow and Trial by Jury. What draws you to each production?
Widow feels like a stepping stone towards the musical theatre of the 20th century – it has plenty of comedy to play with, music that is by turns heartrendingly beautiful and full of infectious energy, with a genuinely touching love story at its core. It’s a properly rounded evening at the theatre – and that’s all we can ask for, right? Trial by Jury is an old friend, and I have always loved its fast-paced, raucous energy.
You are creating a new English translation for this production of The Merry Widow (with David Eaton). Do you prefer directing operas to be sung in English?
There’s no question that there is beauty in opera in the original language, but the immediacy and increased connection that opera in English affords an English audience can’t be denied – especially when there is spoken dialogue involved.
You’ve built a reputation for delivering fresh, inventive interpretations of operatic works, now with your production of The Merry Widow set in 1950s New York. What excites you most about directing for this period?
For one, it’s a very beautiful period, and that’s really important for Widow. It needs to be opulent and a feast for the eyes. But the idea of moving this Widow into a mafia world (while giving us a treasure trove of comedy to draw on that has really amplified the comedy) really supports the original hierarchies of the characters in the story. Baron Zeta is now the Don, Danilo is now his consigliere… The stakes are also raised, which is really useful in comedy. It’s not just about avoiding scandal – it’s sometimes a matter of life or death.
Your Trial By Jury is to be reimagined as a 1980s reality TV show. What elements of your experience with Gilbert & Sullivan’s works are you drawing on in your approach to this production?
The most important thing with G&S is to make sure the situational comedy really works. These operas are true ‘sit-coms’ where the situations the characters find themselves in makes the comedy work by itself to a large extent. And in this case, transporting the court room to a live TV court-room show, allows the chaos and highly emotionally charged scene to feel even more recognisable – even more believable. So the comedy really shines through (hopefully!)
You have enjoyed a varied career as singer and director. How does your experience across these different roles inform each discipline?
Each informs the other and there’s constant overlap. I am able to draw on my experience as a performer when directing (because I know what it’s like) and I learn so much, first hand, from other directors when rehearsing as a singer. I love being able to use different parts of my brain and feel very lucky to be in a position to do so.
You are also the Artistic Director of Charles Court Opera. What do you feel is the biggest challenge that the opera world is facing right now?
The world is feeling rocked about a bit at the moment, and when that happens, it’s the arts which start to suffer, despite the fact that they can heal a community and bring it together in hard times. Funding is being cut everywhere – not just for opera – and the performing arts are striving to survive in an ever more digitally dominated world, and that’s only going to get tougher. But the more we try to make new productions – and new operas – that strike a chord (or funny bone, depending on the opera!) with today’s theatregoer, the better opera’s chance of survival.
What was your first introduction into opera?
Coincidentally – Trial by Jury! I was 11 years old, and played the Judge in a Youth Production at the G&S Festival at Buxton Opera House. I caught the ‘theatre bug’ and that was it.
What has been your favourite production that you have been involved with in OHP?
That’s a very difficult question to answer… So here’s a top three: Flight (because it was a very special production, and my first for OHP), Don Giovanni (because I got to play a dream role, Leporello, for the first time) and The Pirates of Penzance (because it was my first time directing for OHP – and lots of fun).
What is an opera myth that you would like to see debunked?
Again, it’s an old one – but that it is only for the elite. Sure, the act of opera singing is a really athletic, elite skill, but the art form is one of the most rounded versions of theatre you can hope for, and it is for everyone. If you haven’t been to one yet – do it!
Is there a piece of advice that you would offer to other performers, directors and writers?
Do what you love – whatever that ends up being. Yes, be strategic – hustle, think ahead – but ultimately, you have to really love working creatively in the arts if you’re going to do it. And, most importantly – your own sense of worth is not measured by how well your career is going.
Interview by Holly Bancroft
