Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk 2019
"As the walls close in around us it is a time not to bury our heads in the sand but to look ourselves directly in the eye."
That's what director Graham Vick had to say in relation to Birmingham Opera Company's 50th production, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Shostakovich's epic opera was famously banned by Stalin in 1936, despite huge international success in Russia and abroad. It wasn't performed again for 25 years.
Fast forward to March 2019 and to the Tower Ballroom, an iconic but disused nightclub by Edgbaston Reservoir. Birmingham Opera Company reopened the doors to stage Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. For five sold-out performances, audiences came face to face with bloodied brides, rats, mourners, wedding guests, axes, poison and "a turkey-cock in leopardprint smalls" (that'd be The Lover, Brenden Gunnell, making his Birmingham Opera Company debut in the role).
Our collaborators included a chorus and actors comprising over 150 Brummies, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, an on-stage band from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and a cast of outstanding international principals. Alpesh Chauhan conducted, making his UK operatic debut, and the space was "artfully trashed" by Block9, radical set design duo working here on their first ever opera.
Watch some short clips from the production below!
Get a flavour
We've created a short video reel so you can get an idea of what Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk was like!
By arrangement with Universal Edition as agent for Hanns Eisler
and Alan Brodie Representation as agent for The Estate of Bertolt Brecht.
Production Photographs
All photos by Adam Fradgley
The Wife and her Husband are tyrannised by the Father in Law, bitter that they have not bred him a grandchild.
When the Husband leaves on business, the Wife takes a lover - a new worker. The Father in Law finds out and whips the Lover to the brink of death. The Wife poisons her Father in Law. Determined to make her new found happiness last, she kills the Husband, hides the body and marries the Lover.
The Police, unhappy at not being invited to the wedding, crash the party and find the body.
In prison, the Wife finds out exactly who she has married.
The Story
Credits
The Production
Libretto A Preis and D Shostakovich
After the short story by Nikolai Leskov
English version based on the translation by David Pountney
Conductor Alpesh Chauhan
Director Graham Vick
Design Block9
Movement Director Ron Howell
Lighting Design Giuseppe Di Iorio
Chorus Master Jonathan Laird
Birmingham Opera Company Chorus and Actors
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Cast
The Wife Chrystal E Williams
The Priest James Ioelu
The Father in Law Eric Greene
The Father in Law's Ghost Eric Greene
The Husband Joshua Stewart
The Chief of Police Quentin Hayes
The Lover Brenden Gunnell
The Arresting Officer Themba Mvula
The Engineer Themba Mvula
The Socialist Edward Harrisson
The Driver Dominick Felix
The Drunken Guest Dominick Felix
The Maid Grace Nyandoro
The Prison Guards Themba Mvula, James Ioelu
The Seedy Lout James Kryshak
The Prisoner Eric Greene
The Porter Andrew Clarke
The Pole Dancer Lilly Papaioannou
The Steward James Ioelu
The Other Woman Grace Nyandoro
The Three Foremen Andrew Clarke, Dominick Felix, Jack Sandison