EUCALYPTUS Tickets

Eucalyptus has a complex score and less complex plot. Since it is taken from Murray Bail's novel, it may even be familiar to many. Nevertheless I believe that to fully appreciate Jonathan Mills' new opera you need the ear of a musicologist or you should experience it twice: once for the plot and having absorbed that, again for the music. Yes I've read the critics extolling the shimmering score but once the artists began to sing it was lost on me because there were so many words to follow. Thanks to terrific diction by all concerned including the chorus, a rare thing in English-language opera performance, I seldom had recourse to the subtitles shown on screens on both sides of the stage. Singing flowed like the lines in a play . Indeed at times it felt like being at a play in which all the characters unaccountably sang their lines. I found I needed to concentrate on the words in order to follow the plot and thus missed the marvellous sound-picture which the critics enthused over. It’s a common reaction to modern through-sung opera: sometimes the score is so hectic you miss what music might be there. Fortunately all singers were in fine, clear voice and good actors. Even the chorus had been schooled in a bit of character acting for a nice change. Soprano Desiree Frahn is new to me but she owned the role of Ellen with strong, beautifully sustained notes and when required, great vocal agility. I've read criticism of the staging, describing it as part-staged. To me the staging was spare but brilliant, making good use of projections and cleverly positioning the orchestra at the rear of the Palais stage, though whether this will be repeated in other venues remains to be seen. Act II became a bit repetitive because Mr. Cave (Samuel Dundas) the one character who could name every Eucalyptus variety kept bursting on the scene with yet another set of names, all or most in monotone. He was supposed to be doing this comically to get on the heroine’s nerves but I’m afraid it got on mine too. Anyway he lost out and the lady went off with the man of her choice. No plot spoilers there. I'd be happy to view the screening but I fear it may be too late now. In any case 'Eucalyptus' is an opera that deserves to become a part of the national repertoire.