The set design decisions made by the Welsh National Opera for their staging of Osvaldo Golijov’s Spanish Civil War tale Ainadamar made an otherwise complex story with all of the inherent trickinesses of opera a complete delight.
The fringe circle that enveloped part of the stage acted as a two-part boundary: physically separating the stage into separate aesthetic spaces, but also used metaphorically in moments to separate past from present, stage from reality, and freedom from persecution.
Projections onto the fringing warped and morphed to create brilliantly atmospheric visuals, and these abstract shapes made the crystal-clear projections of José Millán-Astray’s ‘Long Live Death’ speech all the more cutting.
The use of the fringe border and its illuminations also meant that we never saw pieces of the set being moved between scenes, adding to the appealing slickness of this production.
The costumes, too, were beautifully done and helped give clarity to the characters and timeline. The spot-on costumes and a wonderful moment which incorporated fringed scarves into a background dance routine cemented this production as a fully-rounded love letter to Spanish culture, both visual and auditory.
With opera, it feels like it goes without saying – the vocal performances by this cast were phenomenal. You never question it that the singers will be pitch perfect, but Hanna Hipp’s range in the breeches role of Frederico García Lorca was truly astounding, as were the vocal gymnastics of Alfredo Tejada as Ruiz Alonso.
There were several misleading crescendos in the final 20 minutes in which impactful, sudden light and set changes seemed to indicate a punchy end to the opera. Momentum was regained, the true ending did not strike with the same power as earlier exit options. At one moment, when the opening motif of a lone flamenco dancer returned to stage I wrote down what a good decision it had been to end the performance this way, but then they carried on for another quarter of an hour. It was an enjoyable quarter of an hour, but a slightly anticlimactic one.
Ainadamar was an absolute treat from WNO this winter, and it was the perfect vehicle for showing off the dazzling expertise of their creative team.
Verity Babbs is the host of Voice FM's 'Arts & Culture Show' on Wednesdays at 2PM
www.veritybabbs.com
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