All photos by Michael Cooper / Canadian Opera company
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Musical theatre tradition says that when emotions run too deep for words, you sing. And when that’s not enough, you dance. There’s no dancing in the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Wozzeck, but there is a place for emotion that can’t be contained in singing alone: it’s in the ever-changing setting.
South African artist William Kentridge directed and designed this extraordinary, immersive production, drawing on a wide array of media from video to puppetry. Photos and charcoal sketches are projected onto the sets, detached heads emerge from the mud, and moving imagery mocks those on stage.
The set and lighting aren’t just a passive background against which the action takes place: they function instead as a kind of Greek chorus, sometimes participating in the action on stage, sometimes driving it, sometimes standing back and commenting on it with pitiless impassivity.
Wozzeck is Must-see Opera
It’s an extraordinary production of a deeply moving opera, a show that will stay with you for a long time afterward, provoking questions about the meaning of suffering, the inhumanity of modern warfare, and how it can all blur the lines between sanity and madness.
Hailed as a masterpiece from the moment it debuted in 1925, Wozzeck is based on a play from the 1830s, with music shaped by the carnage of WW1. The title character is mired in poverty, surrounded by the ruins of war, and spiraling into madness even as the opera begins. Baritone Michale Kupfey-Rydecky is mesmerizing in the role, using a powerful and expressive voice and superb acting to draw us into the nightmare of Wozzeck’s life.
The character scrapes together a living by whatever means possible, labouring for the pompous Captain (Michale Schade) and serving as a paid guinea pig for the sadistic Doctor (Anthony Robin-Schneider, in a deliciously creepy turn).
Soaring Sopranos and Intense Stage Presence
Wozzeck gives what little money he makes to Marie, the mother of his child, seemingly more from duty than care. Or perhaps it’s sheer inertia – the shattered man is so dispirited that it just doesn’t occur to him to do anything other. Certainly, he shows her little affection, and their child even less.
Ambur Braid is glorious as Marie, with a soaring soprano voice and an intense stage presence. She brings moments of light to this dark world, lending even more impact to the tragedy that comes.
Isolated and angry at being rejected, Marie accepts the advances of the Drum Major, a swaggering barrel of bombast played with scene-chewing delight by COC Ensemble alum Matthew Cairns.
Humming Not Encouraged
Later, as Marie laments her unfaithfulness and wrestles with her faith, the Drum Major boasts to Wozzeck of his conquest. When the hapless man tries to respond, the Drum Major beats him as those around stand and laugh. This final humiliation is too much, and Wozzeck is driven to murder and self-destruction.
All this is told through the unforgiving voice of composer Alban Berg’s atonal, dissonant, complex music. This is not an opera that will have you humming the arias as you leave the theatre. This is music that grabs you by the ears and demands to be listened to, for all its intense 90 minutes.
The Canadian Opera Company’s Musical Director Johannes Debus isn’t just conducting a 50- piece orchestra; he is standing on the roof of speeding freight train, steering it by sheer force of will as it thunders down the mountain pass. It was with good reason that the audience at the Four Seasons Centre rewarded him with one of the largest ovations when bows were being taken.
As the opera ends, we are left facing Wozzeck and Marie’s child, presented with chilling effect as a gas mask-wearing puppet. The light fades, the child sits alone, and we are left to wonder whether it will escape or perpetuate the cycle of war and misery.
It’s an image that will stay with you for a long time.
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For further details and tickets for Wozzeck, visit the https://www.coc.ca.
Want to make a special occasion of this remarkable opera? Book an overnight stay at one of our favorite Toronto hotels. Find out more on our feature story, Where Celebs Stay: The Best Luxury Hotels in Toronto.
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Andrew Wagner-Chazalon is the managing editor and CEO of Dockside Publishing and writes about the luxuries to be found in Muskoka and throughout Central Ontario
