There is something to be said for British opera and Benjamin Britten in particular. It is no news that Britten’s translation of William Shakespeare’s much-loved fairy kingdom is simply marvellous, and now, just as Britten took Shakespeare’s text to a new form, world-renowned director Baz Luhrman has adapted Britten’s masterpiece for an entire different context: 1920s India.
There are endless ways in which one can read the subtext of British colonialism so I will refrain from exploring them, except to say that there is something incredibly suitable about portraying the mechanicals (foolish labourers turned dramatists) as British colonialists, dressed and expressed as inexperienced travellers of the most bumbling kind. Of this crew, Bottom stands out – not only for the sheer importance of the Shakespearean character, but also for how wonderfully Conal Coad plays against Richard Anderson’s Quince (who plays the role like a slimmer version of the bumbling Sergeant Schultz, albeit without the German accent.) This would be where my response to the mechanicals (or The Rustics as the opera refers to them) if it weren’t for the smugness of Starveling’s Moonshine (Andrew Moran), the simple minded Snug (Richard Alexander) and the wonderfully comic Snout (Andrew Brunsdon) presenting Wall with appropriately placed appendage. It must be said, also, that the nerdish characterisation of Flute makes for a wonderful effeminate (and deliciously melodramatic) Thisbe.
But I must avoid the danger of Midsummer Night’s Dream, whether in operatic or original form, the danger of being swept away by the mechanics which close the show. Luckily, Luhrman’s re-imagination of Midsummer is one which celebrates the fairy kingdom (and their interactions with Demetrius, Hermia, Lysander and Helena) in a way which meshes eastern mysticism with magic. From the way the Athenian’s shiver under Oberon’s spell, to Catherine Martin and Bill Marron’s amazing set (a mixture of eastern architecture and the elements which imply a supernatural shimmer), the portrayal of the fairy kingdom is at once ethereal and concrete. Britten’s composition scores the fairy kingdom in the higher register; marvellously carried by the spritely Children’s Chorus, Oberon (Tobias Cole) and Tytania (Rachelle Durkin) – what struck me was how beautifully Cole carried his role as Oberon, both dramatically and musically, given that his entire vocal part is written as a countertenor; typically a difficult falsetto range for the male voice. The part plays wonderfully against Britten’s typically ethereal soundscape, perfectly suited to Shakespeare’s 
creation.
It would be almost impossible to sum up the visual embellishments which set this opera into a calibre of its own, though perhaps the best way to express it is to say that Opera Australia’s Midsummer Night’s Dream is the most wildly hysterical, delightfully musical and conceptual innovative performances the company has produced. If you see one show this year, this should be it.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is showing until March 24th. Visit Opera Australia’s website for more information and tickets.
