Paisley Opera: ‘Macbeth’
Paisley Town Hall - 06/10/23
Orchestra of Scottish Opera - Alistair Digges, conductor
Chorus of Paisley Opera - David Stephenson, baritone | Philippa Boyle, soprano | Francis Church, bass | Thomas Kinch, tenor | Matthew Kimble, tenor | Catriona Clark, mezzo-soprano
right2dance, dance troupe
Paisley’s newly and attractively refurbished Town Hall was the venue on 6th October for the first of two performances of Verdi’s ‘Macbeth’, in a new translation (into mild idiomatic Scots) by Lindsay Bramley and a production by Douglas Nairne, performed by Paisley Opera, with instrumentalists from the Orchestra of Scottish Opera and the Paisley-based dance troupe right2dance, choreographed by Aileen Palombo. The production is designed by Katy McGlynn and directed by Simon Hannigan. The mise-en-scène is shifted to a fictitious 1970s Paisley gang/drugs subculture, with place-names altered to Paisley and its environs. For example, Birnam Wood becomes Feegie Woods. The struggle for women’s emancipation and the evils of toxic masculinity form a prominent thread in the plot of the new libretto, though purists will be delighted to hear that the role of Lady Macbeth is undiminished as the ambitious inciter of murder. Instead of witches, the Paisley wifies (women’s chorus), no longer willing to tolerate oppression by the menfolk, hatch a plan at the steamie to turn the men against each other, starting by convincing the suggestible drug-addled Macbeth that he is destined for promotion and ultimately leadership (The King) of the ruling gang, while the children of his right-hand man (Big Man replacing Verdi’s Banco) will become top dogs after him. The rest of the action and all of the music proceeds as the familiar Verdi masterpiece within this revised context.
Paisley Opera is, at its core, a community chorus, open to all who wish to participate, from amateur beginners to seasoned professionals. They benefit from training by professionals. In this production, as townspeople, party guests, women at the steamie and gang members, they look and sound absolutely phenomenal. The chorus at the end of Act I, where the company (including the murderous Macbeth and his wife) swear vengeance on The King’s murderers, would give any professional chorus a run for their money. Their contribution to Lady Macbeth’s Act II Brindisi (written, incidentally, at least half a decade before the famous one in La Traviata), toasting Paisley landmarks, was equally impressive. The women’s chorus in Act III enact a series of ‘apparitions’ in the steamie to mess with Macbeth’s head, including the ‘Birnam (Feegie) Wood’ and ‘man born of woman’ prophecies. The acting and singing were superb, with fine solos from Susan Crosby, Skye Docherty and Eilidh Riddell as the ‘apparitions’. The full chorus, as refugees driven from their homes by Macbeth’s reign of terror and camping in Feegie Woods, shone again, initially exhausted and dispirited, but ultimately defiant and re-energised by the arrival of Malcolm, in a moving scene at the beginning of Act IV. The final chorus, proclaiming relief at the defeat of the tyrant Macbeth and vowing a new order in which the women’s voices will be heard, afforded a final opportunity to savour that astonishingly rich sound.
Equally inclusive is right2dance, a community dance company that has been providing opportunities to engage with the world of dance in Paisley for 50 years. In this production, the choreography contributed in two different ways. In chorus numbers, the dozen dancers echoed and enhanced the mood of the words and music and added creatively and very significantly to the already heightened emotion of Verdi opera. Even more striking was the solo dance of Beth Gildea, Assistant Choreographer, whose dance portrayed the state of mind of Lady Macbeth, performed by soprano Philippa Boyle, in her sleepwalking scene. In a production not short of examples of artistic excellence, I would single out this scene as the ultimate. The playing of the orchestra, Philippa’s portrayal of the descent into madness of the once iron-willed wife who had goaded her husband to multiple murders, her voice unfailingly accurate yet fully suggestive of crumbling mental health, the combination echoed and visually enhanced by dance, and the horror and disbelief of the onlooking Doctor (Welsh bass Paul Anwyl) and Housekeeper (rather than Verdi’s ‘Lady-in-Waiting’; mezzo-soprano Catriona Clark) was pretty well perfect. Catriona, whose excellent Cio-Cio San for Opera Bohemia I reviewed just two months ago, has a voice I never tire of hearing.
Aberdeen-born baritone David Stephenson was a believable tragic Macbeth, superstitious and suggestible, ambitious but indecisive, hungry for power and status but incapable of leadership. In this production, he is also a drug-user. I think that Verdi’s music supports this characterisation. Unlike his wife, his decline starts early in the opera and the gap between his imagined destiny and the tragic reality widens steadily, visible and audible to the audience but not to the character himself. His tragic end comes just as he feels himself invincible. David delivered all of this with compelling visual and vocal characterisation and a rich baritone timbre, switching convincingly between ebullient and vulnerable as needed. Liverpudlian bass Francis Church was an equally compelling Big Man (alias Banco), shining first in his Act I duet with Macbeth, but very touching in his Act II solo tender moment with his son Fleance, a silent role played to audience acclaim by 12-year old Finlay Bryce, a vocal pupil of Catriona’s, also studying double bass.
Two important tenor supporting roles were MacDuff, performed by Welsh tenor Thomas Kinch and Malcolm, performed by Northern Irish tenor Matthew Kimble. The Assassin and Messenger (Verdi’s ‘Herald’) was performed by chorus bass Douglas Taylor.
In summary, this was an extraordinary example of community music-making, showing a passion for opera and civic pride in equal (and no small) measure. I was blown away by the commitment to excellence and the evident enjoyment that radiated from all in the company. Paisley Opera is something very special and worth celebrating.
Only one thing puzzled me and I wasn’t intending to mention it, but I will, intending no diminution of the praise already given. The idiomatic Scots text was delivered with precise and rather fruity diction by the principals, somewhat at odds with Renfrewshire vernacular and the company’s motto ‘passion, not posh’. I don’t think it subtracted anything from the audience experience, but I did find it puzzling and did hear a few giggles from some audience members.