Marie Claire is enchanting vixen
Anna Blyth • Published 27 Jan 2011 09:30
ARDROSSAN singer and opera star Marie Claire Breen took to the stage in Glasgow's Theatre Royal at the weekend playing the lead role in David Pountney's production of Janacek's opera, The Cunning Little Vixen.
Originally a light-hearted comic strip, the opera version of The Cunning Little Vixen charts the journey of a vixen cub from her capture by a forester, through her escape, sexual awakening and on to her eventual death.
Brought to the stage by the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama (RSAMD) in partnership with Scottish Opera, almost everything in this production was powerful and meticulously delivered. Marie Claire Breen was outstanding.
A recent graduate of the RSAMD's master of opera course, Marie Claire has also been named a 2010/11 Scottish Opera Emerging Artist. Her portrayal of the vixen here – both in terms of her vocal strength and powerful personality, not to mention her feather-like movement on stage – is certainly worthy of praise.
It was impressive to listen as her voice remained feminine yet at no point – arguably, unlike James Birchall's early scenes as the poacher - became over-powered by Scottish Opera's mighty orchestra in the pit below the stage. Equally impressive was the audible gasp and genuine feeling of sadness that lingered over the audience as her character was shot.
Casting a more critical eye, Pountney's production does exhibit some confusion in terms of its plot-line and – to anyone unfamiliar with the piece - the crucial reflection on the cyclical nature of life and death, by way of showing the passing of the seasons, is easily missed.
Although perhaps slightly difficult to get to grips with in the early scenes, in the end, the blending together of the animal and human worlds – which produces many instances of laugh-out-loud flirting and sexual suggestion between foxes, vixens, dogs and hens - is simply magical.
Also, the number of children in the audience – likely due to the number of children on stage depicting various animals and creatures – added something quite adorable to an already thoroughly enchanting two hours of artistry.
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