Wading through mud

Saint-Saëns is remembered chiefly for his infliction of 'Le carnaval des animaux' on the unsuspecting human race towards the end of the 19th century. The Frenchman was, apparently, also a very brave man in depicting the Scriptures through an opera, 'Samson et Dalila', as at the time biblical stories were considered unfit for stage representation. What no one knew in those days, was that Opera Hong Kong, a recently established charity devoted to the art of opera, would attempt a performance of this at times elegant and constantly dramatic three-act piece. I was one of the misfortunates witnessing this desecration of opera on its first performance last night.

Of course as a new organisation performing its first full-length opera there are bound to be problems. Still, it was a bit of a shock to see the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra sitting on the stage. There was no pit for them to be seated elsewhere. There was a five-foot strip of stage in the front left for the performers. The choir was sitting in rows behind the orchestra.

The choir started up, but it was impossible to say exactly what it was they were singing, as their slurred diction only distinguished one word: "Gentile". The English and Cantonese subtitles were going through a merry circus of their own - we were only in Act I, Scene 2, but they were happily whizzing through Scene 5. We hoped the subtitles would behave themselves in the next two Acts, but (as Samson kept crying out) "Alas!" it was not to be. At one point the subtitle screens burst into bright orange, then blacked out.
"What do you think that means?" I whispered to my companion.
"I dunno. That this is a powerful, dramatic scene?" she whispered back. We finally lost the subtitles in Act Three.

But what of the performance itself? Well, one of the high priestesses escorting Delilah pushed forward to give her a garland, even though Delilah's song had already begun. Delilah's habit of tilting her head to one side while rubbing her temples was irritating. Was it the red bindi she had stuck on her forehead that was causing her such angst? The High Priest of the Philistines wore a gown that resembled tassled drapes. The 'orgiastic' Bacchanale comprised of four young ladies dressed in what appeared to be white muslin curtains dancing around a young man who should have been on the set of 'The Pirates of Penzance'. When he lifted one of the girls up and swirled her dangerously close to the edge of the stage, an audible gasp from the frightened audience filled the auditorium - we all thought the two of them would fall off. My companion noted with some grief that Delilah's voice did not project well - whenever she turned away from the microphones hanging from the ceiling, her voice would drop. At various intervals, the orchestral music would overcome her singing. Samson did a passable impression of angst-ridden, guilt and lust-bitten doomed malehood but it was simply not enough to carry the wreck of a show through the mud.

You go to the opera because it is an all-round entertainment - there will be great singing, great sets and great music. This sorry performance reminded me of school plays, only that I recall the school plays I saw were better executed. The one good thing that's come out of it is that now I have more respect for Saint-Saëns for, despite it all, the music kept up the beat.