Ralph Vaughan Williams’ opera based on John Bunyan’s famous book is not often performed and - without being ungallant - it’s not that hard to understand why. Bunyan’s source book may still be a classic but it is no longer widely read and the story itself may have more resonance for committed Christians than for the wider public. A further handicap is its lack of a compelling plot, since the composer adheres to Bunyan’s picaresque storyline that follows the travails of its central character - an unnamed Pilgrim (Edward Robinson) - across an allegorical landscape where he is tempted, tried and persecuted before reaching his ultimate destination, Paradise. The music - Vaughan Williams at his most pungently floral - is lyrical, often strikingly so, but there are times when one longs for a bit of variety to disrupt the effulgence, and though it eventually comes - principally, in the battle with the demon Appolyon on the King’s Highway - normal service is too swiftly resumed, at least for my taste. Anyone wishing to make the assertion that Vaughan Williams’ music is pictorial will find plenty of ammunition here. But if you’re looking for an extended version of The Lark Ascending, with added voices, you don’t need to hesitate…..
So, the first hurrah must go to director Jonathan Cocker for his high concept production which transfers the action to the First World War, turning some of the Pilgrim’s allegorical battles into real ones in the trenches. Although I had some initial doubts about this - the Great War has surely been done to death in the last few years - the concept had clearly been properly thought through before its arrival on stage and Bob Bailey’s costume designs were marvels of colour and accuracy. A very versatile set, also by Bailey, allowed the space to multi-task as battlefield, Vanity Fair, or even - in a nice touch - a psychiatrist’s consulting room as the addled Bunyan asked a Freudian Doctor what it all meant in the Epilogue. Effective lighting, too, from Ian Sommerville.
The ensemble nature of the opera makes it highly suitable for a performance by students - although there is a nominal ‘main’ role, that of the Pilgrim, the rest of the dramatic personae comprise a number of ‘character’ parts in which good singing actors can make an impression without hogging the limelight. The second half opens with the splendidly-staged set piece of Vanity Fair (Thackeray half-inched the title from Bunyan), which provides ample opportunity for the supporting cast. Although not all the singers had the volume to counter the orchestra in this, the opera’s most heavily-orchestrated scene, there were some good turns from Clare Hood as Madame Manton and Staffan Owen as Lord Hate-Good. The bustle and market-day raucousness were well choreographed by Cocker and the Pilgrim’s progress from there to the Delectable Mountains and from there to his ultimate destination of the Celestial City was very effectively staged.
A special word must be said for Edward Robinson’s performance in the taxing central role. He deployed his flexible baritone well across the opera’s two acts, never sounding strained and projecting well across some of the heaviest orchestration. If his articulation of the text wasn’t always ideally clear, he was hardly alone in that (being able to hear the words in an opera sung in English is often a mixed blessing in any case). Robinson alternates the role with Llachllann Lawton, who sings it on 2nd and 5th April, with Robinson returning to it on the 3rd and the 6th.
David Parry presided over the RNCM Orchestra with magnificent gravity, a true advocate of the score and even if I wasn’t entirely persuaded, that was hardly his fault.
Reviewer - Richard Ely
on - 31/3/19
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