A brave move, pitching an opera's opening night
against the first night of the Proms, but the UK
premiere of the second staged collaboration between
Michael Nyman and playwright Michael
Hastings justified the risk; a subtly inspiring
evening.
Drawing on Hastings' personal experience, the
libretto calls for only two characters – Patsy Blair,
a retired and out of condition middleweight boxer, and
Avril Ainger, a university lecturer in
mathematics.
The scene is set with the first occasion of the
couple's meeting, with Blair (bass-baritone Andrew
Slater) shadowboxing a tree. Avril (soprano
Helen Williams) rides past on her bike and,
unable to comprehend such a sight, finds her curiosity
aroused.
From then on a nicely paced first half draws on the
differences between the two characters, inviting
sympathy from the audience on both counts. Blair
exhibits problems with numeracy, a direct result of
too many punches to the brain, and Ainger is on hand
to provide help with the aid of visual clues, numbers
hung around the stage in strip lighting. This proves
an extremely valuable audience diversion, and helps to
signpost key events.
Williams does well to capture the pain of Avril's
failed marriage and the emotions stirred as Avril
begins to feel affection for her new friend. Slater,
meanwhile, catches the oafish nature of the boxer,
often speaking before he thinks but possessing
nonetheless a sensitive side.
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Nyman's music is key too, written for a chamber
ensemble augmented by piano and two keyboards, taut
and precise in performance under conductor Paul
McGrath. A couple of memorable themes are brought
out of the first half, most notably at its climactic
end, though Nyman could be judged a little unkind to
Slater for such a low register entry at the
beginning.
Unfortunately after the interval the momentum
stalls somewhat, the scenes frustratingly edited so
that the breaks between them become difficult to
comprehend. The ending has a neat twist however, the
occasionally humourous script with plenty to commend
it throughout.
Performances are superb, Williams in particular
projecting with great clarity, her words audible even
when singing into Slater's shoulder. The bass-baritone
is excellent also, handling the trickier melodies with
tuning mostly intact, his speech inflected when
required for the role.
Not a wholehearted success, then, as the second
half could perhaps do with being a good ten minutes
shorter, but nonetheless this is a contemporary opera
with plenty to offer, and several thoughts to
provoke.
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