REVIEW: Between Worlds at the Barbican
I HAVE seen operas receive standing ovations from entire theatres; I have heard operas being loudly booed; but I cannot remember ever hearing such tepid and polite applause as greeted Tansy Davies opera, Between Worlds, about the 9/11 terrorist outrage.
Frankly, it wasn't good enough to deserve better and it wasn't strong enough to be worth booing.
The 9/11 disaster was something that shook the world.
It was a brave subject to choose for an opera, but the lack of drama in the action, and to an only slightly lesser extent in the music, came as a great disappointment.
The stage at the Barbican where this is being performed, is divided into three levels.
At the lowest, we see the lovers and relatives of the people on the middle level, who have gone to the Twin Towers for a meeting.
At the top level sits a shaman (though one would not guess that was what he was without reading the programme), who is occasionally visited by a spirit, though why that happens, other than as an excuse for some aerial ballet, is anyone's guess.
It might have been a bit clearer if the Barbican had been equipped with subtitles, as we are used to when the ENO are at home, as it was often impossible to pick out the words.
The doomed characters in the building are strangely inactive, singing a lot of banal "I love you" and "the phone's ringing" and "we can't get a signal" lyrics, and the tension and despair that must have accompanied the events is strangely muted.
The best thing about the production, by a long way, was the standard of singing from a very talented British cast.
It's a pity they did not have something a bit more inspiring to demonstrate their skills.
Tickets: barbican.org.uk or 020 7638 8891 (last performance, April 25)
