Byre Opera: ‘Mansfield Park’

Laidlaw Music Centre, St Andrews - 25/06/23

Neil Metcalfe and Ziying He, piano duet

The extraordinary oak-lined McPherson Recital Room in the Laidlaw Music Centre of the University of St Andrews is the world’s first fully acoustically programmable performance space, allowing the reverberation time, for example, to be ‘tuned’ from nearly 4 seconds for organ and choral music, down to 1.5 seconds for orchestral rehearsals.  It accommodates audience sizes of up to 250 for chamber music recitals, less for staged chamber opera, of course.  The entire floor of the auditorium incorporates a grid of independently mechanised lifts which allow an infinite variety of spatial configurations - another world first. This was the venue for the third (and only matinee) outing of Byre Opera’s production of Jonathan Dove’s ‘Mansfield Park’, on the afternoon of 25th June. The raised, stepped ‘stage’ area projected so far into the audience space that no audience member was further than a handful of metres from the action. This was my first encounter with this innovative building.

Byre Opera, named for the theatre in St Andrews, is the resident opera company at the university. Though the University of St Andrews does not offer a music degree as such, a surprising wealth of vocal performing talent is to be found among the student body of disparate other specialisms.  The facilities of the Music Centre and the organisation of the opera company allow this talent to be nurtured and developed, permitting study and the pursuit of excellence in the performing arts in tandem with other disciplines.  This was also my first encounter with the opera company.

Jonathan Dove’s adaptation of the Austen novel, with a libretto by Alasdair Middleton, is a two-act comic chamber opera, tracking the woes and eventual triumph of poor relation Fanny Price, residing with her wealth--and social status-obsessed cousins, the Bertrams, at Mansfield Park, her social ‘betterment’ (ideally through ‘advantageous’ marriage) their ‘project’.  As the opera opens, Fanny is about to come of age and the Bertrams judge her ‘much improved’.  Even wealthier than the Bertrams, siblings Henry and Mary Crawford, staying nearby and visiting, add an edge to the enfolding satire.  When Fanny rejects Henry’s proposal of marriage, she incurs the censure of Sir Thomas, Lady Bertram (“ungrateful girl!”), Mary and even the mild-mannered Edmund Bertram, who is captivated by Mary. But, though shy and gauche, she knows her own mind (and heart) and stands firm against their disapproval.  When, at length, the newspapers break the scandal of Henry’s involvement in an affair, Fanny’s diffidence is vindicated.  Reconciled with the almost-contrite Bertrams, she accepts the proposal of the no-longer conflicted and finally openly-enamoured Edmund.

Hitherto, Scottish Opera’s superb production of ‘Flight’ had been my only experience of live Dove opera.  In ‘Mansfield Park’, I found the same use of engaging melody and the same unerring instinct for dramatic polyphonic vocal writing.  The Byre production, directed by Tania Holland Williams, followed the instrumentation of the original 2011 version, 4-handed piano duet, the instrument upper stage right played superbly by Neil Metcalfe and Ziying He.  The action, costumes and props are ingeniously and seamlessly transposed to the 21st century, where the satire of social mores plays out equally well, indeed possibly more acutely, in the context of social media and tabloid journalism.  In Dove’s score, each scene (called a ‘chapter’) is announced and played in song, with often multiple vocal lines interleaved with great pace and complexity, yet a limpid texture.  Rectangular white panels at the back of the stage carried projections of newspaper headlines, Twitter posts etc., while backlit hexagonal transparencies evoked elements of the settings, designed by Sarah Booth. Bringing this production to the full realisation of its vision and such excellence of performance must count as a very great achievement.

Covent Garden regular, contralto Sarah Pring, who premiered the role of Lady Bertram in the 2017 small orchestra version, not only reprised the role for Byre Opera, but also served as vocal coach to the company throughout the rehearsals, as well as mentoring the young talent.  It is undeniable that the excellence of the vocal performances delivered by the company must be attributable in great measure to her work.  Ben McAteer, a 2010 graduate of St Andrews, lent his formidable baritone, so rich and characterfully Pythonesque in the role of Grand Inquisitor in Scottish Opera’s outrageously funny Gondoliers in 2021, to the role of Sir Thomas Bertram and delivered an equally characterful performance.

Dove’s mezzo leading role of Fanny Price was entrusted to History First Class Honours graduate Rebecca Black, a trust she repaid marvellously.  Hers is not a big voice, but in a Cinderella-like characterisation of a young woman who stands firm against bullies, it was pretty well perfect.  Next September she starts a Masters in Vocal Performance at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

RNCM graduate tenors, Dunfermline-born Liam Forrest and Welsh/Irish Gabriel Seawright delivered strong performances in the character roles of Mr Rushworth and Henry Crawford, respectively.  An ingenious and whimsical addition to the cast, a (mostly) non-vocal role for Lady Bertram’s pug, was played by PhD Chemistry student Ben Connaughton – ‘mostly’ because he joins in in the final chorus where the Bertrams grudgingly acknowledge the lessons learnt from their exposure to the humiliation they would gladly visit on others.

First year students, soprano Pavlina Ivanova (Languages) and mezzo Bonnie White (Management and Sustainable Development) were impressive as sisters Maria and Julia Bertram, respectively.  I have no doubt that careers in vocal performance await both if they choose to pursue them.

This was my first encounter with Welsh third-year Maths student, baritone Brannon Liston-Smith, in the role of Edmund, the least pompous Bertram, though I read from the programme that he has already racked up an impressive catalogue of roles, also finding time to compose and play jazz drums.  Not as big a voice as Ben McAteer, but every bit as colourful, he is definitely one to watch.

But, and no prizes for spotting this, I have left till last to mention another mathematician who was my discovery of the afternoon.  Dove puts much of the most challenging singing into the role of Mary Crawford, for which he specifically asks for a coloratura soprano.  Rachel Munro graduated in Maths last year and has been working in a graduate position at the Laidlaw Music Centre and for Scottish Chamber Orchestra, as well as leading Craigmillar Voices community choir as part of the SCO’s outreach residency programme.  I have no other way of saying this: what a fabulous voice!  She joins the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland post-graduate Vocal Performance programme in September, so expect to catch her in their forthcoming productions.  Definitely another one to watch.