Philip Glass’s opera about the rise and fall of an ancient Egyptian Pharoah is the unlikeliest triumph in opera: a logic-defying piece of theatrical magic
Alexandra CoghlanIf you had told me 10 years ago that English National Opera’s biggest hit would be a 20-century opera sung in Egyptian, Hebrew and Akkadian, with little obvious plot and no subtitles – oh, and juggling – I would have scoffed. And I’d have been wrong. Three London runs and three sets of sell-out houses later, plus acclaimed outings in New York and LA, and Philip Glass’sAnd magic it really is.
There have been clearer stagings of this quasi-biographical piece about the rise and fall of ancient Egyptian Pharoah Akhnaten, whose attempt to introduce monotheism saw his name and legacy all but expunged from history, but none that do what director Phelim McDermott does so unexpectedly in his alchemical fusion of sound, image and movement.
There are no violins in Glass’s orchestra, dimming the sonic brightness. The muted shades of the composer’s densely patterned scales and arpeggios are the backdrop against which designers Tom Pye and Kevin Pollard silhouette relentlessly gorgeous, colour-flooded images – a living frieze of Egyptian gods; a giant sun flushed red silhouetting a tiny human figure – which choreographer Sean Gandini fills with hypnotic rituals of movement.
Just as Glass’s score reduces music to its essential units – a single chord; a single rhythm – so the designs take big ideas back to their essence: an orb; scales; a wheel. It’s the same story with movement. The Gandini jugglers aren’t there for decoration, their synchronised patterns reduce gesture to its elements. Battle becomes a single spear-throw arc, celebration a fountain of upward throws, each repeated again and again.
If ever there was a show that makes the case for ENO, for why London needs two opera companies, then this is it
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