OPERA REVIEW: The Cunning Little Vixen - The Lowry Theatre, Salford.

Leos Janacek’s “The Cunning Little Vixen” stars one of opera’s sassiest heroines, but being opera, she’s still violently murdered towards the end (and turned into a fox-fur muff). Set in Edwardian English countryside and sung in English, Opera North, performing here at Salford's Lowry Theatre, delivered a charming and family-friendly production with both edge and humour. 

As the lead character Vixen Sharp-Ears, soprano Elin Pritchard was utterly delightful. Her rich voice flowed over the score with full deviousness. Her acting performance was very strong too as she went through the life-cycle of an animorphic fox. As the captured fox cub, she was the wickedly naughty little girl in a red and orange pinafore. As the newly-adult fox, she was the insecure yet alluring young lady in a red-and-orange ra-ra dress and fluffy red boa. And as the mother of eight cubs, she was the comfortable maternal figure with a cardigan and some darning. But Vixen Sharp-Ears never lost her vivacious personality, and was always up for a cheeky chase and some chicken-hunting, right to the end.

Playing the Forester, bass-baritone James Rutherford gave a solid performance in his ongoing pursuit of the Vixen. He was surrounded by a swirl of ensemble characters from the village and countryside, as the score featured a lot of scattered little cameo roles rather than choral singing. Bass Callum Thorpe gave a quite colourful turn as the outcast Poacher. Mezzo Hazel Croft stumped her way through as the Forester’s dour Wife. Tenor Stuart Laing lounged sardonically as the Innkeeper. Mezzo Claire Pascoe was an incredulous Innkeeper’s Wife. Tenor Paul Nilon was a sad little Schoolmaster, thwarted in love. Bass-baritone Henry Waddington broke into Latin tags as the reclusive Parson.

The animal characters were what brought the production to life – and there were a lot of them. Various members of Opera North featured as panicked chickens, a bossy Badger, a randy Dog, a bewildered Owl, a wise Woodpecker, a scatty Jay, a gossip of squirrels, and a star turn from mezzo Heather Lowe as Dog-Fox Gold-Stripe: the Vixen’s love interest. Set and costume designer Maria Bjornson kept an animorphic  “Wind In The Willows” theme going in the style: mixing fur and feathers with aprons, spats and flat caps.

Two ballet dancers, Stefanos Dimoulas and Lucy Burns, filled in many orchestral interludes with their elegantly glittering Dragonflies, and Burns also soloed as the Spirit of the Vixen.

The most charming part, however, was the use of the children. Ranging in age from about six to sixteen, they were everywhere. The eight Fox Cubs sang together as a lovely children’s chorus. Other child performers were Insects, Frogs, a very sweet and very small little Hedgehog, and a trembling little Hare who knew she was about to be eaten.

Director Sir David Pountney, who also did the translated English libretto, has fully removed the story from its Czechoslovakian roots and placed it into that fabled English countryside we have a nostalgic feel for from children’s books. Most of the time this worked. It did mean certain comments about feminism and socialism jarred a bit, and seemed more suited to a grittier production; and the obvious influence of Slovak folk music on Janacek’s score pulled a little too. Overall though, conductor Andrew Gourlay filled it with wistful sparkle and a call to nature; and it is a production worth seeing, especially for younger audiences.

Reviewer - Thalia Terpsichore
on - 7.3.23