This evening's performance of Carmen by Ellen Kent featuring the talent of the Ukrainian Opera and Ballet Theatre was the best of any of Kent’s productions yet. Satisfying and thoroughly enjoyable in every possible manner, Natalia Matveeva’s Carmencita and Davit Sumbladze’s Don Jose were the perfect couple for this superb performance, bringing alive the very essence of Bizet’s opera. It was pure unadulterated bliss.
Kent has always claimed that it pays well to invest in your lead singers, and Carmen proved that philosophy ten times over. Matveeva was exquisitely sultry and seductive as the heroine, her talent lay in not only reaching every corner of the Opera House with her powerful mezzo-soprano voice, but in her acting too. Matveeva used every inch of the stage, her eyes gazing at what felt like every member of the auditorium. The mezzo-soprano fully embodied the character of Carmen in a performance that Bizet himself would not find fault with. Furthermore, as if Matveeva was not captivating enough as the gypsy Carmen solo, when performing opposite Sumbladze’s Don Jose the two created a chemistry and romance that evoked such passion, it burned as hot as the cigarettes which are made in the factory from Act I. There was a real Burton-Tayloresque factor about the two singers which made for a truly enthralling and rambunctious evening. The tenor, Sumbladze (in his first UK tour), was a massive improvement on the Don Jose from 2022, from the moment he appeared on stage in his corporal’s uniform and opened his mouth, one knew he had put his heart and soul into the role. Likewise, his passion was our passion, his lust was our lust, Sumbladze had the audience on his side from the very beginning.
Set in Spain in the early nineteenth century, Bizet’s Carmen is a story of jealousy for the same woman. Carmen is in everybody’s eye, yet she plays and manipulates her way to those only she has eyes for. Don Jose, a young and innocent corporal, falls for the vampish Carmencita outside the cigarette factory after the young gyspy singles him out. After falling foul of the law, Carmen is detained by the soldiers and the young corporal is instructed to take her to the jail, however already wooed by her, Don Jose lets her go and takes her place in prison. After being released, Jose finds Carmen and her gang in a tavern, plotting a raid, and again unable to resist Carmen, quits the militia to join her. However there is another who has Carmencita’s favour, Escamillio the toreador (Iurie Gisca) and what develops is an intense jealousy between the two men.
Again, going back to the perfect casting, Gisca’s Escamillio was exceptionally swashbuckling and dandy, his on stage presence was almost infectious and one could not help but grin when the toreador sauntered on and smiled. Gisca’s voice was one of the best of the evening, the baritone’s rendition of the famous Toreador Song in the second act raised the hairs on one’s neck being utterly exhilarating. Energy is not an unfamiliar thing in Carmen, and every aspect of the production had energy exuding from it. Gisca’s Escamillio was this energy personified, his vibrant costumes throughout strike a bolt of colour in scenes.
Which leads onto the costumes, the sets, the props, all of which come together wonderfully to create extraordinary verisimilitude, whisking the audience back some two hundred years. Kent’s productions have always prided themselves on their firm commitment to the traditional, with no holds barred on imposing set design and the most delicate and detailed costumes. Everything is real and interacted with by the cast, and nothing is left to the imagination. All this combined with the lighting helps further the world in which Carmen is set. One almost feels the cold in the open night of Act III, the warmth and joviality which comes with it in the first act. This particular performance of the opera was lightening in a bottle, and one can only hope that the heights set by Carmen remain for the rest of the tour.
The opera itself is widely accessible, although the main plot elements are prevalent in other operas, Carmen has a perfect blend of action, pathos, comedy and romance. It appeals to all which is most likely why Manchester Opera House appeared packed again. Carmen is raunchy bordering on the perverted, it’s grandiose bordering on the bombastic, it is the perfect opera. Bizet’s music reflects this, being worthy of its own concert. Ellen Kent has worked wonders with the Ukrainian Opera and Ballet Theatre to bring this to Manchester, and her direction and choice of cast flawless.
Is it not a shame that it was a one-night-only event? To a degree yes, but what a cultural treat to have been lucky enough to experience such a performance. If there had been any misgivings about La Traviata the night before, then Kent’s Carmen was an aggressive rebuttal, highlighting the talent of the theatre company, as well as elevating the director to a height that one doesn’t think of Ellen Kent = Opera, but rather the other way around.
Puccini’s Madama Butterfly has a tall act to follow and finish the Manchester leg of the tour on, yet one thinks we have nothing to worry about.
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