King Arthur (DVD)

Salzburg Festival

King Arthur: Salzburg Festival

by Brian Hay

After reading all the bad reviews of this production I can only wonder if most of the people who savaged it really sat down and gave it their full attention.

The set is a marvel. It's a huge multi-tiered piece that appears to be modelled along the lines of an ancient coliseum. There's a large backdrop overhead which depicts a sky and also serves as a projection screen. The effects are a combination of conventional stage devices (trap doors) and modern multi-media. The stage is a large oval with the orchestra pit is squarely in the middle. That served the production really well. More on that later …

The wardrobe is a multi-coloured array of styles and designs that looks like a what's what of fashions that survived a cataclysm. It looks bizarre but it acts as a contemporary image of how the peasantry would have dressed in Arthur's time; they were as poor as dirt and would have worn anything they could find. The costumes and makeup are excellent. The outfit worn by the spirit 'Philadel' combined baroque fashions with hair from '80's glam-rock. It was hilarious. 'Grimbald' is so hideously ugly he really looks as if he smells like rotten fish (something that 'Philadel' pointed out several times). Michael Schade's wardrobe ran the gamut from formal wear to alpine guide missing his St. Bernard. Barbara Bonney went from sprite to rag doll and finished up formally dressed. Isabel Rey wore an array of outfits as did Birgit Remmert and baritone Oliver Widmer. Widmer even ended up dressed as a penguin at one point. This was a feast of images that flooded the senses. But it all works in the service of the piece.

The narrative is updated but still reasonably faithful to (John) Dryden's original intentions. In this version the "Juice that makes the Britons Bold" looks like cans of beer. 'Emmeline's' most pivotal scene is played out with a camcorder instead of a mirror. The overall effect is the same whichever way the scene is presented. Some ornamentation has been added though. In this rendition 'Emmeline' sees a 'Conductor' (Harnoncourt) when she regains her sight. 'Merlin' gets in 'trouble' with one of the theatre's ushers when he tries to reach 'Arthur'. Like Dryden's text it combines farce with high art.

The spoken performances (as much as I could assess without being able to speak German) are fabulous. All of the actors involved were expressive physically as well as verbally. As the production progressed I became less dependent on the subtitles and more observant of the body language of the performers. Sylvie Rohrer did a fabulous job as the sightless 'Emmeline'. Even during the closeups she managed to avoid allowing her eyes to follow movements involuntarily. Michael Maertens was a hoot as the indecisive 'Arthur'. Dietmar König was wonderful as the obsessed 'Oswald'. Roland Renner was a beautifully disgusting 'Osmond' and Werner Wölbern was brilliantly repulsive as the aforementioned 'Grimbald'. Alexandra Henkel was deliciously loveable as the sprite urchin 'Philadel'.

The musical performance is fantastic. Barbara Bonney delivered a radiant version of 'Fairest Isle'. Oliver Widmer was marvellous during the 'Frost Scene' as was Isabel Rey when she contrived to 'warm him up'. Birgit Remmert did some great work with Michael Schade during 'Woden, our Defender'. Isabel Rey and Barbara Bonney doubled up beautifully on 'Shepherd. Shepherd, leave decoying'. Schade's rendition of the solo part of 'How Blest are Shepherds' was sublime. And he had too much fun acting out a rock star fantasy while performing the drinking song, 'Your Hay it is Mow'd'. Having the musicians in the middle of the action allowed the performers feed directly off each others' energy. (Nikolaus) Harnoncourt had the members of the 'Concentus Musicus Wien' playing as if they were walking on air. Everyone on stage was beautifully 'in sync' with those around them. The choral segments delivered by the entire ensemble were stunning.

This isn't the easiest production to view casually. At a glance it looks like a garish affair that lacks rhyme or reason. The songs are sung in English but the spoken dialogue is presented in German. That's reasonable given that the members of the live audience were German but it's a hurdle for English speaking buyers of the DVD. (Spoken humour loses its spontaneity when read as subtitles). That might might have been the biggest stumbling block for the writers who tore this production apart. If so then it's too bad because it's one that's both brilliantly and beautifully realized.

And it's worth the effort it takes to really get into it.

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