The University of Arizona Opera Theater’s The Rape of Lucretia Is Layered With Lyric Intensity.
Lucretia-Robyn Rocklein, Tarquinius-Seth Kershinik
Sometimes an opera will reveal its artistic nature in a way the listener had not expected. That is what happened at the Opera Theater’s April 3rd performance of Benjamin Britten’s Rape of Lucretia. Composed after the success of his thoroughly orchestrated Peter Grimes, Britten chose to make his Lucretia a two-act chamber opera, with 13 instrumentalists and eight singers. Librettist, Ronald Duncan used Andre Obey’s play Le voil de Lucrèce in telling the tale of Lucretia — the wife of Collatinus, a Roman general — who is raped by Prince Tarquinius, son of the Etruscan tyrant, Tarquinius Superbus. Junius, another Roman general who is jealous of Lucretia’s devotion to her husband and who has aspirations to rule Rome, underhandedly encourages Tarquinius to go to Collatinus’ house in the dead of night to seduce the chaste Lucretia. The opera, which is set in Rome in 500 BC, presents two difficult artistic challenges in its quest to succeed as drama.
Director Charles Roe and Music Director and Conductor Thomas Cockrell had to find a way to keep Britten’s musical pathos flowing at those moments when Duncan’s text became turgid and unresponsive to the story. In addition, Britten decided to mix Christian beliefs with Roman creed throughout the opera, the two contrary views showing up at unexpected intervals. Roe and Cockrell overcame these literary difficulties by concentrating on the emotional and musical aspects of the opera, deflating what was cumbersome in the text, thus allowing the dramatic impact of Lucretia’s plight to be fully realized.
With only a chamber orchestra in the pit, the singers performed the demands of the piece with vocal confidence and dramatic security fulfilling Roe and Cockrell’s artistic intentions.
The part of the opera which concerned Lucretia’s personal story was performed in front of hanging rectangular panels that had the rustic look of Roman armor. Alexander Nelson’s lighting on the back scrim changed according to the different dramatic points in the opera. The simplicity of Sally Day’s set complemented the cast’s straight forward acting style buoyed by Roe’s unfussy direction.
L to R- Rocklein, Collatinus-Christopher Herrera, Junius-Robb Harrison, Bianca-Kaitlin Bertenshaw, Lucia-Bethania Baray
And there were strong and vocal moments that stood out. Kaitlin Bertenshaw’s Bianca, Lucretia’s nurse, used her warm sound to show her sympathy for Lucretia’s turmoil. Bethania Baray’s Lucia, Lucretia’s maid, brought a bright girlish glee to the rare moments of levity that Duncan wrote. Christopher Herrera’s Collatinus brought a true vocal sentiment to his scene where he tried to convince Lucretia she shared no blame in the rape, just moments before her suicide/sacrifice. Robb Harrison’s Junius brought the right vocal expression to his reflective moments of self-pity.
Mezzo-soprano Robyn Rocklein as Lucretia and baritone Seth Kershisnik as Tarquinius handled the Act Two bedroom scene with authentic characterizations. After the Etruscan approached the sleeping Lucretia, his vocal portrayal changed from tender suitor to arrogant fury over Lucretia’s rejection; he was met head on by Rocklein’s passionate vocal outburst when she realized the man she lovingly embraced with long kisses was not her beloved Collatinus. Their intensity captured the great emotional upheaval which led to the rape.
Britten used two characters, a Female Chorus and a Male Chorus, who function as narrators and commentators from outside the main action. Luckily, Roe and Cockrell found two performers who dramatically handled the switch from one belief to the other without weakening the opera’s strong emotional core. Mezzo-soprano, Connie Nokes-Roberts and tenor Dennis Tamblyn, stood on risers in front of gothic-style, liturgical chairs, Nokes-Roberts on stage right and Tamblyn on the left. Adam Dill dressed the singers in monastic robes with large cowls that represented the Christian aspects of the text. The combination of Day’s ecclesiastical chairs and Dill’s monk-like garb gave a pictorial image to the lamentation in the score. Guided by Cockrell’s deep understanding of Britten’s work, Nokes-Roberts and Tamblyn projected their roles’ wide, dynamic range from piano to forte with performances packed with a searing emotional commitment that took Lucretia’s tragedy to heart.
There was, however, one section in which Roe’s steady hand was not visible. In Act One, Scene One, Junius and Tarquinius almost came to blows over Tarquinius’ salacious comments concerning Junius’ wife. Their anger led to some confrontational sword play which to the audience lacked purpose. This was the only glitch in an Opera Theater production where the musical and dramatic values were at their operatic best.
