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Minotaur
- Tour & World Premiere.
Composer - Julian Evans.
Libretto - Allan Dunn.
Conductor - Olivier Rundell.
Director - Mark Hathaway.
Designer - Finlay McLay.
Film Animation Designer - Iain Piercy.
Lighting Designer - Davy Cunningham.
Choreographer - Steinvor Palsson.
Film Editor & CD Rom Designer - Bevis Evans - Teush.
Company - Scottish Opera
Company .
Cast - here .
2003 Tour Dates and Times - here .
Seen to review at Theatre Royal Glasgow on 14 May 2004.
Run Time - 1hours 45 mins including 15 mins interval.
Reviewer - Thelma Good.
Exciting story, unexciting opera.
The Minotaur - Scottish Opera Production.
David Hughes - The Minotaur.
© Kevin Low 2004.
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Boy leaves home and kills giants, is nearly poisoned by a queen, finds
the father he hardly knew and goes into the Labyrinth as Athenian youths
have done every nine years. Unlike them he returns. It's a powerful story,
one that's survived for centuries. As primarily a theatre critic and only
having seen about 10 operas in my life I was intrigued to see this Scottish
Opera production aimed at a young audience unaccustomed to this art form.
They use modern computer generated animations, fly one of the singers,
(a rather pointless excise as he can't sing while he is trussed and thrust
up aloft) and use super titles against a sharp yellow background. But
somehow despite all the embellishments they forgot to make a child's or
their parent's first encounter with opera entrancing despite casting good
singers and musicians.
It's a story about a hero,a boy who becomes a man through his dynamism
and risk. We never really experience this in the music or libretto, indeed
another art form is used to convey the most dramatic moments - Dance.
Steinvor Palsson choreographs with verve the scenes for the ritual dance
performed by Athenians depicting the Minotaur and Theseus's encounter
with the real grunting, puffing Minotaur in the Labyrinth on Crete. It's
a strange message to give about opera, which can be supremely emotional
and exciting, to spurn its possibilities and use another medium to express
most of the The Minotaur's intense moments.
As an introduction to opera Minotaur leads to some more off-putting conclusions.
Though sung in English it has surtitles. This could have been an asset
but the brief descriptions are bland and banal, including " Theseus
and Ariadne fall in love", a scene whose sense should surely be conveyed
easily by the music, singing and interaction between the lovers. Frequently
the surtitles on screens beside the stage irritatingly remain long after
the action has moved on. And if you are going to use surtitles, what about
having a libretto in Scots and the surtitles in English? Other conclusions
a novice audience member would draw are that opera singers have difficulty
moving and singing at the same time and that if someone is singing no
one else usually moves. The result is visually static and undermines any
tension or narrative flow.
It's an uninspiring opera whose music contains no tunes, you'd think a
hero would need at least one of these to keep his spirits up. The libretto
has little lyrcism in it, using very plain words and little or no metaphorical
colour, though the moment when the departing Athenian youths are trying
to bouy up their spirits does amuse all with its mention of "out
on the piss" and "puke". Surprisingly despite the high-tech
bits, it's a very old-fashioned feeling production.
It's a sad contrast to the last small scale broad appeal opera I saw,
Family Matters
by the English Company Tête à Tête which had six modern
composers, a lively story and direction. The Minotaur cost about £250,000
I gather. It could turn more children (and their brought along parents)
off than on to this expensive art form. Thankfully the workshops in schools,
viewable on a CD Scottish Opera has produced, look much more fun as does
Iain Piercy's cartoon version of the story in a programme which is otherwise
too like a school text.
© Thelma Good 14 May 2004. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
Cast - Louise Innes - The Oracle, Thesus'
Mother, Athenian, Paul Keohone - Thesus, Colin Judson -
Friend of Thesus, Athenian Messenger, King Minos, Adele Mason -
Friend of Thesus, Athenian, Princess Adriadne, Claire Wild - Friend
of Thesus, Athenian Messenger, Herald, Nicholas Fowler - King Aegeus,
Athenian, Sarah Rhodes - Queen Medea, Athenian, David Hughes
- Sciron, Athenian, The Minotaur.
Musicians - Harry Kerr - Violin, Rosie Townhill - Cello, Andrea
Kuypers - Flute/Piccolo, Andrew Langford - Carinets, Gregor Stewart -
Trombone, Tom Hunter - Percussion and Anna Bull - Piano.
2004 Tour Details of Scottish Opera's production
of Minotaur.
Tour begins
14 - 19 May at at 7pm
and Mats 15 May at 1:30pm and 18 May at 10:30am.Glasgow Theatre
Royal 0141 332 9000.
27 - 29 May at 1:30pm,
Fri at 10am & 7pm, Sat at 2:30pm & 7pm.Edinburgh Festival
Theatre 0131 529 6000.
3 - 5 June at at
7pm Matinees Thurs & Sat at 2pm.Dundee Rep Theatre 01382 223530.
10 - 12 June at 10
June at 10:30am & 7:30pm, 11 June at 1:30pm & 12 June at 2:30pm
& 7:30pm. Aberdeen, His Majesty's at Hilton 01224 635 208.
17 - 19 June at 17
June at 7:30pm, 18 June at 10:30am & 7:30pm & 19 June at 2pm &
7:30pm. Inverness Eden Court Theatre 01463 234234.
Tour ends
Theatre Editor, Thelma Good's e-mail is
thelma@edinburghguide.com
Although every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the
information presented in these pages, no responsibility can be accepted
for any errors or omissions.
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