Scottish Opera: ‘Candide’

New Rotterdam Wharf, Scottish Opera Studios, Glasgow - 11/08/22

New Rotterdam Wharf, Scottish Opera’s extraordinarily unconventional canopied open-air performance space behind their production studios, was the venue for the first of six promenade performances of Bernstein’s satirical operetta after Voltaire, directed by Jack Furness and designed by Tim Meacock.  At the far end, a raised stage accommodated the orchestra conducted by Stuart Stratford and, occasionally, principal characters.  Behind this, a more elevated platform served as an adaptable set (for example, a place of execution).  To the left, a smaller stage at an intermediate elevation with some settees served as, for example, a TV studio.  An elevated runway in the middle of the performance area served for much of the action.  Facing this, on the left, was some tiered seating for audience members who had elected not to be promenaders.  On the right and back of the performance space were three lorry trailers with curtains which could be opened to reveal sets representing different exotic locations in the narrative.  In the rest of the floor space, promenaders, performers, Scottish Opera Chorus and a Community Chorus with members of the Maryhill Integration Network, mingled freely. A roving camera captured important moments of the musical narrative and broadcast to three screens. Supertitles followed the lyrics of the numbers.  Illuminated trolleys served as vehicular props, such as ocean-going vessels.  Indeed, extraordinary!   

And what a narrative! Bernstein’s 1988 radical reworking of both book and score from 1956 to the quirky masterpiece we know and love today was undertaken with and at Scottish Opera – the modern performing version is the Scottish Opera version and yes, they owned it afresh in Glasgow summer 2022.  A blistering satire of the fundamental absurdity of philosophy, Voltaire’s naïve eponymous hero and his aristocratic love interest, Cunegonde, neither overendowed with intellect and both armed with only the woefully inadequate, blindly optimistic world view of Dr Pangloss, are unwittingly cast adrift into an all-too-real world of pain, suffering, disillusionment, cruelty, injustice, natural disaster, incrimination, death and inexplicable reincarnation.  A quest that is not a quest, in that they are more passive victims of fate than active pursuers of truth and meaning, leads them ultimately, through repeated separations and reunions, to the nihilistic acceptance that neither is attainable and they can only do their best and must be satisfied with that. 

What a masterpiece and what a performance! The Scottish Opera Orchestra were on top form and Bernstein’s score was crisply delivered. The show itself is chockful of numbers ranging from biting wit and hilarious absurdity, through abject woe and aching pathos, to devout hymnody and hopeful determination, far too numerous to mention them all. Highlights for me were Candide’s (William Morgan) ‘It Must Be So’ and ‘It Must Be Me’, Cunegonde’s (Paula Sides) ‘Glitter And Be Gay’, the Old Lady’s (Susan Bullock) hilarious tango ‘I Am Easily Assimilated’, the even more hilarious ‘Money, Money, Money’ from the ever-versatile Jamie MacDougall as Vanderdundur (only one of the four roles he played), Ronald Samm (who also played Dr Pangloss and Cacambo) in Martin’s ‘Words, Words, Words’; as well as great moving ensemble numbers like the quartet at the end of Act I, the pilgrims’ chorus ‘Alleluia’ and the Act II show finale ‘Make Our Garden Grow’. 

It was, in summary, a brilliant show, brilliantly designed and brilliantly directed.  Utterly, utterly bonkers, but quite brilliant. Strongly recommended. 

Donal Hurley

Donal Hurley is an Irish-born retired teacher of Maths and Physics, based in Clackmannanshire. His lifelong passions are languages and music. He plays violin and cello, composes and sings bass in Clackmannanshire Choral Society, of which he is the Publicity Officer.

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