Bizet: The Pearl Fishers
Richard Divall (conductor)
Ann-Margret Pettersson (original director)
Sung in French with English surtitles
Leanne Kenneally (soprano) - Léïla
David Hobson (tenor) - Nadir
Lucas de Jong (baritone) - Zurga
Gary Rowley (bass) - Nourabad
West Australian Opera Chorus
West Australian Symphony Orchestra
Thursday 3 May 2001
His Majesty's Theatre, Perth
Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de perles, as originally conceived, is a harmless
little fairy tale in an exotic setting with charmingly melodious music,
including one big hit number, the tenor-baritone duet "Au fond du temple saint".
The opera was apparently vaguely based on travelers' tales of Ceylon (as it then
was known); nobody really expects it to reflect an authentic ethnographic view
of Sri Lanka, and the story is no less and no more implausible than many a
libretto. In this Opera Australia production, restaged for the West Australian
Opera, the poor thing has fallen victim to a grossly misconceived Concept: we
are now invited to contemplate The Pearl Fishers as a depiction of the
White Man's Burden.
Zurga is no longer a fellow pearl-fisher, selected for his personal qualities as a chief, primus inter pares, but is now a sort of European colonial governor, whom the simple Natives have chosen to lead them in his benevolent and wise White Man's way. This Pearl Fishers opens with an aged Zurga now retired to his native France, where he has spent a night at l'Opéra, reminding him of his younger days in the balmy faraway tropics. Flash back to the exciting time when the simple souls acclaimed him as maître ("Qui, moi?"), and, dressed in colonial whites and bravely bearing a sabre, he installed their priestess. Mind you, no one seemed to know what sort of a priestess she was: despite her invoking the Hindu gods Brahma and Siva, the stage was festooned with images of the Buddha. In the first scene of Act III, he lounged disconsolate in his Residence, coat off and suspenders dangling, while brooding over his scotch on the perfidy of his childhood friend Gunga Din, er, Nadir.
Leaving all of this aside for the moment, the sets and costumes were colorful and sumptuous (the phrase "visual feast" features heavily in the advertising), mostly reflecting the tropical, Indian-subcontinent mise-en-scène, with backstage projections occasionally depicting a European opera house. Dances strove for Sri Lankan effect, while the humble pearl fishers were a somewhat ragged and morose lot. Authenticity did seem somewhat beside the point, however, given the religious confusion alluded to above — and surely someone should have known that in the Indian Subcontinent white saris are worn for mourning, not religious celebration.
The singers achieved mixed success. As Nadir, David Hobson, internationally known for his young and spunky Rodolfo in Baz Lurhmann's film of La bohème, deployed his light tenor to good effect on the whole; his stage presence, however, can only be compared with the finest quality Indian teak. Lucas de Jong was (despite the dire persona he was required to assume as Zurga) considerably more animated, and has a fine consistent baritone. Their duet (winningly translated at one place in the program as "At back of the holy temple") was well presented — it was obviously carefully prepared in view of the weight such a beloved item always carries. The Léïla, Leanne Kenneally, has a big voice, but it sounded unfortunately strident at times, and her intonation was wayward. She looked the part however, and acted convincingly. Dramatically, the Act III confrontation between Zurga and Léïla was the definite high point of the evening. The chorus was not always clearly audible (as they were offstage some of the time), and their diction was not impeccable even when they could be clearly heard. The reliable West Australian Symphony played well, if a little heavy handedly at times, under Richard Divall.
The audience certainly seemed to have a good time, their enjoyment no doubt enhanced by the innovation of translated titles on screens in the boxes immediately adjacent to the stage (His Majesty's Theatre being a European opera house in miniature). This is clearly preferable to the previous stratagem of literal surtitles high above the stage, which used to lead to a marked nodding effect as the audience's heads swung up and down from titles to performers.
In the end, however, one has to worry about the wisdom of presenting such an old-fashioned colonial interpretation in 21st-century multi-cultural Australia. It makes one long for a touch of political correctness.
