Eire Smetana, The Bartered Bride: Soloists, Refrain and Ensemble of Irish Nationwide Opera / Richard Peirson (piano, conductor), Storage Theatre, Monaghan, 27.11.2025. (RB)
Irish Nationwide Opera’s (INO) new manufacturing of The Bartered Bride is a small-scale touring opera manufacturing (I watched it on the Storage Theatre in County Monaghan). It options 11 singers and 5 instrumentalists working collectively to create the vitality, zest and good humour of Bedřich Smetana’s nice work. It’s the first of three Czech operas INO are performing this season (Janáček’s Crafty Little Vixen and Dvořák’s Rusalka are each scheduled for efficiency early within the New 12 months). The solid sang in English in a translation which captured completely the idiomatic humour of the unique.
The Bartered Bride is usually considered the quintessential Czech opera. Smetana made appreciable use of conventional Bohemian dance kinds within the rating together with the polka and the furiant. It’s each a celebration of Czech rural life and a mild satire of its social conventions. The plot revolves round a younger couple, Jeník and Mařenka who’re devoted to one another. They be part of forces to outwit the machinations of Mařenka’s mother and father and the native marriage dealer, Kecal, who’re attempting to marry Mařenka off to Vašek, the son of a rich landowner. A travelling circus arrives within the last act so as to add to the final wackiness and mayhem.
There’s generally a rigidity on this work between the excessive spirited, folksy, comedian parts and the detailed plot which centres on grasping mother and father attempting to pressure their daughter into a wedding she doesn’t need. Some fashionable productions have centered extra on the darker parts injecting a sting into the comedian proceedings. This manufacturing from INO takes a way more conventional light-hearted strategy to the opera the place nothing is taken too critically and there’s by no means any actual menace hanging over the characters.
Louisa Muller’s manufacturing transfers the motion from mid-nineteenth century Bohemia to rural Eire within the Nineteen Seventies. Land, cash and social standing mattered enormously throughout this era, and it was not unusual for folks meet over a pint within the native dance corridor to debate who could be an appropriate match for his or her youngsters. It was a placing and efficient analogy, and it supplied alternatives to poke effectively focused enjoyable at a number of the native interval conventions. Ciaran Bagnall’s set consisted of the inside of a dance venue with a bar on the aspect and a raised platform for the instrumentalists who have been performing subsequent to the singers. John O’Clery’s costumes have been vibrant and numerous. The primary solid have been sporting cowboy hats and wellington boots whereas the circus troupe have been sporting brightly colored, gaudy clown outfits. The outrageous costumes all added to the flicker and enjoyable of the piece.
I had blended emotions about Amy Ní Fhearraigh’s portrayal of Mařenka. She was feisty and resourceful and a number of the ensemble work was effectively executed (I notably loved her Act I duet with Egor Zhuravskii’s Jeník). By way of the vocal line, I used to be not satisfied that this position performed to her strengths. The tone sounded a bit compelled and trenchant occasionally and there have been minor intonation issues within the higher vocal register. A number of the singing was very nice within the Act III aria however once more I’d have preferred a smoother, richer extra lyrical tone. Egor Zhurakskii’s efficiency moved from power to power because the opera progressed. He portrayed Jeník as a likeable, fun-loving character who was decided to outmanoeuvre the opposition to get his woman. He had a light-weight lyrical tenor voice which he used to important impact. He sang Jeník’s Act III aria with nice heat and great thing about tone and the highest notes have been dispatched cleanly and with authority. I used to be additionally impressed with the readability of his diction notably in his Act II duet with Kecal.
John Molloy was the standout efficiency of the night, and he stole the present within the position of the scheming marriage dealer, Kecal. He dominated each scene he was in and introduced impeccable comedian timing to the position. There was an over-the-top exuberance to his interactions with different characters as he tried to browbeat them into signing his contract. He negotiated Kecal’s fast hearth patter in his Act I aria with enormously vocal dexterity and his diction was glorious. William Pearson portrayed Vašek as a quite touching determine eager to make connections and to be cherished. I used to be happy along with his sympathetic and nuanced efficiency that didn’t enable the character to tip over into caricature.
The remainder of the solid acquitted themselves effectively. All of the singers joined forces to present a rousing rendition of the 2 great refrain numbers initially and finish of the primary act (the latter accompanied by some vigorous dancing). Richard Peirson did a marvellous job arranging the rating for five devices. There have been a couple of events once I missed the total orchestra, however Peirson’s association ensured the glowing melodies, infectious people rhythms and wealthy color within the rating all shone via. Violinist, Ioana Petcu-Colan, was notably spectacular within the opening Overture and within the ‘Dance of the Comedians’ quantity in Act III.
General, this was a glowing, pleasant manufacturing stuffed with zest and vitality.
Robert Beattie
Featured Picture: INO’s The Bartered Bride (centre, Ben Escorcio because the Grasp of Ceremonies) © Patricio Cassinoni
Manufacturing:
Director – Louisa Muller
Set and Lighting design – Ciaran Bagnall
Costume design – Joan O’Clery
Choreographer – Rebecca Howell
Solid:
Mařenka – Amy Ní Fhearraigh
Jeník – Egor Zhuravskii
Ludmilla – Carolyn Holt
Krušina – David Howes
Kecal – John Molloy
Háta – Rebecca Afonwy-Jones
Míka – Julian Shut
Vašek – William Pearson
Esmeralda – Megan O’Neill
Grasp of Ceremonies – Ben Escorcio
Outlaw – Matthew Mannion
Ensemble:
Violin – Ioana Petcu-Colan
Cello – David Edmonds
Clarinet – Conor Sheil
Horn – Hannah Miller
Piano – Richard Peirson
