Guau! Carmen @ Royal Opera House, London
Everyone keeps moving all the time in this production, no-one is background scenery. Aigul Akhmetshina is full throttle, literally giving Carmen — whether snogging the face off of Don José (Piotr Beczala), elegantly all over her Toreador or singing of love to small children on a roundabout. Tremendous characterisation! Haunting the background is Don José’s doomy mother — ominously sorting Tarot cards (strange for someone who seems so godly and upright) and prophesying doom — and death….
Hilariously and literally, Damiano Michieletto’s production of Bizet’s classic in inspired by ‘sweating people’. In a small town somewhere, people swelter under the sun. In boiler suits, the local women flirt, fall in love, fight and get taken into police custody for being too loud and annoying. Local social star is Carmen (Aigul Akhmetshina) who does whatever she pleases — until Zuniga (Blaise Malaba) decides that she can’t and puts her under arrest. Fortunately for Carmen he puts his trusty and somewhat despised administrator Don José in charge of overseeing her. He falls in love with her, she sees an opportunity to escape -and off they go to a Romani life of…smuggling illegal goods across the border.
Until Carmen encounters a man she likes much better, the Toreador Escamillo (Kostas Smoriginas). He has a fan base and his own song! In this version, fun takes place in the local disco (everyone is styled in 1970s fashion). Camen has two supportive female friends, Frasquita (Sarah Dufresne) and Mercedes (Gabrielė Kupšytė), who — whilst sporting fabulous glittery eye shadow — encourage her.
We feel for Don José as his admin labours are spurned and dismissed, dashed to the floor by his boss; as his love for Carmen is not returned and she treats him as entertainment, as his tender, all consuming love turns into murderous obsession. He literally gives up everything for Carmen — including legality. We also feel for Micaëla (Liana Aleksanyan) sent by Don José’s lurking mother to deliver money and messages — but who really love Don José — and he never knows it, treating her as a sister and friend. The sweetness of her role is a wonder in this production — and incredibly sad.
Having escaped police custody, Carmen shoots a gun — and runs off with Don José for a life of crime and liberty! (And leather — leather jackets and hot pants are derigeur here). Sisters do it for themselves as the women decide that they will beguile the customs guards and get the goods across the border illegally. Micaëla can’t believe what she’s seeing and hearing. Carmen — having forced Don José’ to choose between her and his job and respectability/legality — now finds him dull and boring and no fun, and seeks fun elsewhere — in the form of a acid green suited Toreador. Along for the fun is somewhat sleazy Dancairo (Pierre Doyen).
The cast of children are delightful here — causing bored havoc by robbing the vending machine and annoying the local police, until shooed off by upright Don José. They’re impressed by fellow officer Morales (Grisha Martirosyan) can shooting! They also perform a delightful scene setting task using cards with a human sized alphabet — though sometimes the spelling goes array and needs sorting out! Smaller children play on a roundabout until frightened off by the bigger ones. The older ones take revenge on Don José’s shooing by setting fire to the brush. They are in awe of Carmen, holding her beer bottle and listening to her wise words about love.
The police can also really dance! When he isn’t impressing the local kids, Morales is trying to chat up Micaëla, or experiencing some serious tie action in the disco! Another nice touch is when the cast hit a touristy market and excitedly rush off with flowers, frilly spotted Flamenco dresses and other Spanish touristy cliches. A Matador creating tailor sorts the children into correct spelling! (Though his stitches are concerning). Zuniga even gets in on the action — buying fans — and flowers…
Piotr Beczala captured Don José’s sweetness, his real love for Carmen. Aigul Akhmetshina was an absolute powerhouse, singing beautifully and tenderly, but also giving Carmen everything. We also saw the woman, not just the stereotype — and how she used her opportunities to achieve freedom. In a highly structured society, Carmen used what she had to get what she could, fighting and loving. The moment where Don José kills Carmen was horrific — and made us think about how society blames women who are killed by their lovers.
Don José’s haunting mother in a epic mantilla and black dress was ominous — and continuous presence in Don José’s life. Her presence on stage added to the drama. Antonello Manacorda’s joyful and focused conducting made the music soar. Really, the music is all here with so many beautiful songs. I wish they had danced more — we lost the sense of Spanishness here, with a focus more on a sweltering desert ‘somewhere’. More too could have been made of class distinctions with Carmen as outside and leader — at the same time. Sometimes the production confuses sleazy with sexy. However, Aigul Akhmetshina was wonderful in the lead, with tremendous singing and acting, matched by her male leads, and rocking wonderful purple flares. I loved how the whole cast appreciated each other — applauding each other, the orchestra and really celebrated everyone. There was, in the applause, a real sense of unity and collaboration — quite unique, it was a real team effort. Also loved the international talent of the cast here- the artistic opposite of the UK government's horrid and inhumane policies.
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