This is the fourth revival by English National Opera of Calixto Bieito’s production of Carmen, first seen here in 2012. Its premiere was in 1999 at the Peralada Festival in Spain and later it was widely seen in opera houses in the US and across Europe (it’s a co-production with Den Norske Opera). Updated from its original 1875 setting to the dying days of Franco’s regime in the 1970s, Bieito’s reading of Bizet’s opera is grimly realistic about a time of barbaric brutality and its opening scene features an almost naked man running around a group of soldiers, whose leader Morales (Jolyon Loy) brandishes a whip.
Is this some bizarre form of punishment? It is certainly relished by the soldiers who next turn their fiercely toxic masculinity on Micaela – Ava Dodd who gives us an unusually feisty (and a sparkling voiced) reading of this often wan character. This is the first sighting of the profound misogyny everywhere on display in this production, updated by Jamie Manton with the help of Intimacy and Fight Director, Haruka Kuroda – and there is plenty of both to be seen here.
John Findon as Don Jose, with the ENO chorus, in Calixto Bieito’s production of Carmen
Not only is the story of Carmen well known, Bizet tell us from the start (Carmen’s death motif is first heard in the overture, of course) that this is not going to end well. In this production, though, the violence is everywhere, a casual cruelty barely under the surface and ready to erupt at any moment. Sexual power is just as dark and sexual obsession – the opera’s overriding theme – is less about love than a tortured violence, too. When we first meet Don José, he doesn’t exactly seem Carmen’s type. Introverted, overweight and almost certainly sexually repressed, he is sung by John Findon with a simmering anger and a self-loathing that is both harrowing to watch and utterly convincing.
His Carmen – although, of course, she is never actually “his” – is Niamh O’Sullivan, elegant, self-possessed and seemingly entirely knowing in the ways of men. The moment Don José strikes her though (I’ve never seen this before in any production of Carmen) comes as just as much of a shock to her as it is to the audience. O’Sullivan has an unusual voice, with a particularly rich lower register, and her seductiveness is not in question. Her Escamillo, Cory McGee, didn’t look the part until the final scene but sang impressively.
Harriet Eyley, Niamh O’Sullivan and Sian Griffiths in ENO’s Carmen
At 25 years old, Bieito’s production is starting to show its age. No doubt shocking and cutting edge in equal measure when it premiered, now the naked men (there’s another one at the start of the second half) and the battered Mercedes cars as the main props along with telephone kiosks and flag poles are looking as flat as the enormous facade bull that is knocked to the floor. That doesn’t, though, reflect on the music.=
The ENO chorus were in their always magnificent voices and there was a very charming children’s chorus, too, from Marlborough School. In the pit, Olivia Clarke drove the ENO Orchestra at a cracking pace through the overture and later brought out every nuance in Bizet’s wonderful music. It’s already the last chance to see this production with the last performance tomorrow, 5 November.
Carmen’s final performance is on 5th November at The Coliseum. For more information, and for bookings, please visit www.eno.org.uk.
Photos by © Ellie Kurttz
