Premiered at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2017, with an all-Australian production team led by Neil Armfield, this production has since been performed at the Adelaide Festival in 2018, at the Metropolitan Opera in 2022, and most recently at the Munich Opera Festival in 2023.
Finally it is Sydney’s turn to experience what has been acclaimed as the most successful opera ever composed by an Australian.
Anyone who experiences this production is unlikely to dispute that claim. It has certainly been worth the wait, particularly with this cast of outstanding singers led by Allan Clayton as Hamlet and Rod Gilfry as Claudius in the roles they originated at that 2017 Glyndebourne premiere, and Lorina Gore repeating her Helpmann Award winning performance as Ophelia.
Although Matthew Jocelyn’s libretto utilises only about twenty percent of the text of Shakespeare’s play, the story-telling and character motivations are clear throughout. All the famous quotes from the play are there but not always sung by the characters for which Shakespeare wrote them, and while the opera is sung in English, surtitles are used to ensure that none of the lyrics are lost.
Neil Armfield’s production looks spectacular with an ingenious setting by Ralph Myers which becomes part of the story. Similarly Alice Babidge’s stylish costumes have a timeless elegance about them which supports the action without drawing attention away from the characters.
Armfield’s direction is deservedly admired, not only for the compelling characterisations he has encouraged from his singers, but for his imaginative scene changes and the way he manages to maintain focus on the main protagonists while moving the large chorus around the stage so efficiently that it is often a shock to realise that the chorus has left the stage.
Having the nobles wear white makeup gave them a slightly butoh-like appearance which removed them from the constraints of reality into a heightened theatrical world where their emotional excesses felt completely relatable especially in a world driven by the sounds of Brett Dean’s idiosyncratic and compelling orchestral inventions.
This is not an opera that sends you off into the night humming the melodies. Brett Dean’s extraordinary score, brilliantly rendered by the Opera Australia Orchestra under Tim Anderson’s guidance, is so powerful and inventive that it becomes a sonic experience in its’s own right.
In addition to the large onstage chorus, eight additional singers performing as part of the orchestra but situated high in the auditorium balconies, along with percussion and other instruments, contribute otherworldly noises in what is known as ‘extended vocal technique’.
Following the only interval, the entire chorus sings from around the auditorium walls, creating an extraordinary surround-sound impression of being inside Hamlet’s head, while an onstage piano-accordionist helps create a heightened sense of chaos to Claudius’ reaction to the performance arranged by Hamlet to embarrass him in front of his guests.
Nor is the role’s creator, British tenor, Allan Clayton’s Hamlet a fey young man tugging at his forelock. This Hamlet is a maddeningly self-centred young man so occupied with his own grief as to be oblivious of the effect of his reckless actions on those around him.
Clayton’s towering performance is matched by that of Rod Gilfry, returning to the role of Hamlet’s scheming stepfather, Claudius, which he also originated at Glyndebourne.
Watching Lorina Gore repeat her Helpmann Award-winning performance as Ophelia is an unnerving experience. Her superbly nuanced interpretation of Ophelia’s disintegration into madness at Hamlet’s rejection, especially in the second act when wrapped in her dead father’s jacket she writhes around the floor, is a performance to cherish for its bravery and commitment.
Similarly memorable was Catherine Carby as Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. Carby’s beautifully burnished soprano and elegant bearing made her perfect casting in a role originally performed in Adelaide by Cheryl Barker, then scheduled to be played this season by the late Jacqueline Dark, the memory of whom this season is dedicated.
Nicholas Jones is excellent as Ophelia’s brother, Laertes, as is Kanen Breen as the supercilious Polonius. Counter tenors, Russell Harcourt and Christopher Lowrey, delighted as the twittering duo, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, while Samuel Dundas offered a strongly sung, Horatio and Jud Arthur made the blood run cold with his haunting performances in dual roles as the Ghost of Old Hamlet, as well as the Grave digger.
Brett Dean’s Hamlet is a masterpiece of contemporary operatic composition, as is Neil Armfield’s conception and direction. This current production, featuring so many of the original cast and creatives offers a rare opportunity to experience the original, brilliant, well-honed production which has not only been lauded around the world, but is also extraordinarily entertaining and compelling.
For anyone with even a passing interest in the history of Opera in Australia, this season offers an opportunity not to be missed!
Hamlet
Joan Sutherland Theatre – Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, Sydney
Performance: Saturday 20 July 2024
Season continues to 9 August 2024
Information and Bookings: www.opera.org.au
Images: Christopher Lowrey as Guildenstern, Russell Harcourt as Rosencrantz, Allan Clayton as Hamlet, Catherine Carby as Gertrude, Rod Gilfry as Claudius, Kanen Breen as Polonius, Lorina Gore as Ophelia with Iain Henderson as Player 3 and Jud Arthur as Player 1 in Hamlet – photo by Keith Saunders | Rod Gilfry as Claudius and Kanen Breen as Polonius in Hamlet – photo by Keith Saunders
Review: Bill Stephens OAM