The Canadian Opera Company (COC)’s staging of the operatic adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale opened last Thursday night to ovations from the black-tie front row right through to the jean and t-shirt student seats. Frankly, I was surprised that many of the more traditional opera patrons didn’t walk out on the production, which featured public hangings, simulated sex, and nudity, but perhaps this is just an indication of the Toronto audience’s reverence for the Atwood material.
The orchestra was totally on the ball, evoking each creepily nuanced chord extension with foreboding, each ironic leitmotif with brash conviction. Poul Ruders’ score under the hand of conductor Richard Bradshaw supported the story with tropes ranging from a recurring Amazing Grace motif to a Genesis 30:1-3 choral theme, from a jazzy samba sequence to Stravinsky-esque tension and punctuation.
Paul Bentley’s libretto is strikingly faithful to Atwood’s text, each line taken nearly verbatim from the novel, and packs aural punches with generally unused operatic diction choices including “Kiddo” and “bullshit.” Though the libretto’s scope is often confined due to the nature of the operatic style, what was left out of the text was more than communicated through visuals and individual performances, creating a faithful recreation of Atwood’s novel.
The Handmaid’s Tale is about a grim future–one where Christian fundamentalists overthrow the American government and set up the Republic of Gilead, where women are nothing more than breeders.
The costumes and set designs of the Gilead rightly remained abrasive from the first note to the final curtain call–glaring reds and greens against an eerie stark white world, reminiscent of the Puritan garb which influenced Atwood’s original vision. The only real departure from these traffic-light themes was in the brothel scene, rightly bathed in a glowing pink aura straight out of Sex and the City.
The sets and scene changes were frighteningly dynamic but precisely executed, with elaborate setting changes at miniscule intervals to help create the non-linear quality of the narrative. In particular the images of The Wall and Offred (the Handmaid)’s consignment to the house of the Commander were charged with aesthetic intensity and thematic meaning. Plus, the revolving stage was a trip.
The performances under the direction of Phyllida Lloyd (who also directed the original Royal Danish Opera production), with helping hands from assistant directors Michael Walling and Maer Powell, elegantly captured the nuances of their roles. Particular standouts included Stephanie Marshall as Offred in the time of Gilead (who played the role in the English National Opera mounting), and her flashback double played by Krisztina Szabo (both she and Marshall are rising Canadian mezzo-sopranos), each conveying the terror, joy, and irony of their characters throughout the confusing piece. Helen Todd as Aunt Lydia also nailed her role, video clips of her indoctrinated pleading convincing enough to convert anyone. Although the opera venue does not usually allow for scrutiny of close-up facial expressions, Todd’s features oozed with conviction.
The opera may have been commissioned by Copenhagen’s Royal Theatre four years ago, but the COC has brought Atwood’s tale home in fine style.
