Audiences are in for a unique experience in Opera Australia’s production of GHOST SONATA. Dressed warm and casual, head for the Opera Centre in Elizabeth Street and then down the side alley to the company’s Scenery Workshop. Inside the performance space is the most extraordinary set. A heavily raked stage with a large glass panel of similar size suspended at a perpendicular angle. Designer Emma Kingsbury and Lighting designer John Rayment have been given great freedom to build a set inspired by the original production where illusions fade in and out, trapdoors open in the floor which are seen as windows of a house with people looking out when viewed in the looking glass. There’s a sunny garden under the table and funeral shroud in the corner for anyone who fancies knocking themselves off.
Director Greg Eldridge made a brilliant job of using the set for maximum effect, a particularly challenging job with the audience sitting so close. Performers were in period costume and, all but two, with ghostly white faces.
The story of GHOST SONATA is based on a play by Swedish playwright August Strindberg who was nationally renowned for his highly controversial and intelligent works. He was a prolific writer through the late 1800s and Ghost Sonata was inspired by Beethoven’s Piano Sonata no 17, later known as ‘The Tempest’. Strindberg was often writing based on his real life experiences. Ghost Sonata was based around the “hell” that can be achieved within the family home through abuse, neglect and lack of communication.
In the story our protagonist, a naive Student (beautifully performed by tenor Shanul Sharma) arrives exhausted on the scene after a dramatic night saving people from a collapsing house. He accepts water from a milkmaid (ex-Sydney Dance Company performer Alexandra Graham), then speaks to The Old Man (bass Richard Anderson) who cannot see her.
The Student realises this is the man who bankrupted his father but the Old Man convinces him he wishes to make amends. He promises his wealthy inheritance and offers to set the Student up with The Young Woman (soprano Danita Weatherstone), daughter of the Colonel (tenor John Longmuir) who lives in yonder house. Inside the house they are preparing for The Supper and we finally get to be filled in on more background to the story via servants Johansson (tenor Virgilio Marino) and Bengtsson (baritone Alexander Hargreaves).
This is a supper which continues to be repeated where the same few guests go through the same ritual and say the same few things each time. This sounds similar to true ghost stories where the same act, such as Roman soldiers walking over an old Roman road or a waif-like woman wafting exactly the same way over the English fields is due to the presence of quartz in the rocks below which record these scenes like an old video camera, then play them back for thousands of years thereafter.
This time though, the scene plays out differently. The truth, which has been hidden for all the previous Suppers – basically the all the Elephants in the room – are brought out into the open. The speaker of truth is The Mummy superbly played by mezzo Dominica Matthews. She suddenly decides the only way they can escape this repeat performance is if all sins are brought out into the light. All of it – deceit, lies, adultery and murder. Once the cat is out of the bag, the light literally hits the stage and nothing will ever be the same.
Swedish Conductor Warwick Stengårds ably managed this difficult music score with a highly focused chamber group from the Opera Australia orchestra. The singers were watching very carefully for cues as there was little structure to hold on to in finding their way without Stengårds expert guidance.
The story itself is completely gripping – would love to see the play produced here in Sydney. The performers were outstanding in their roles bringing each weird character to life. Checking around the audience after the performance however, lead to an almost unanimous opinion that the music made the evening very uncomfortable.
Aribert Reimann is a multi-award winning composer from Germany who has achieved great success in Europe. His Ghost Sonata score originally premiered in 1984 as part of the Berlin Festival Week for Deutsche Oper Berlin. Briefly searching the net doesn’t show any new productions of this work. Perhaps it is an acquired taste… All in all though, a very brave piece to add to the 2019 season for Opera Australia.
Opera Australia’s production of ‘Ghost Sonata’ played at the Opera Centre’s Scenery Workshop pop up theatre space between Wednesday 11th and Saturday 14th September, 2019.
Featured image : Richard Anderson as The Old Man, Dominica Matthews as The Mummy and John Longmuir as The Colonel in Opera Australia’s production of Ghost Sonata at the Opera Australia Scenery Workshop, The Opera Centre. Pic Prudence Upton
Watch for new productions from Opera Australia: https://opera.org.au/