Sydney: Kosky's Poppea

Barrie Kosky's Poppea

Based on L'incoronazione di Poppea by Claudio Monteverdi, libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello, based on historical incidents described in the Annals of Tacitus. (First performance: Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, 1642)
and the songs of Cole Albert Porter

Sydney Opera House, Playhouse Theatre
until 22 August

You know you're at a Kosky piece when there's a blood-smeared nude man on stage most of the time and you barely notice him. The Baroness's sublime reinterpretation of Monteverdi's last opera was a sensation at the Vienna Schauspielhaus where it originated, and at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival, programmed by that other Australian arts wunderkind, composer Jonathan Mills. Now it has finally arrived in Sydney, at the Playhouse, SOH for a 2-week run.

We loved this. We are fans of Kosky from way back. But still, you try to be objective.

A minimal set and 4-person orchestra pit is all there in the way of evocation of place. Six performers sing the roles. And what performers! Much has been written of Melita Jurisic (Poppea)'s stage presence. She is mesmerising, with a throaty tenor purr that evokes a debauched pre-war Berlin, molassses-rich with visceral and obsessive love. The others are all equally fine, moving easily between (presumably) Busenello's words transposed to German, and some of Cole Porter's best-known songs. Sounds ghastly? It works, surprisingly, because these actor/singers could carry anything off. It's worth it just for 'De-Lovely' - it's in the second half, which really is worth staying for, we promise.

In the pit, three cellists weave a seductive path through Monteverdi and Porter, while the Baroness von Kosky herself punishes the ivories. This is piano as storyteller - cartoon-like, often, in true burlesque spirit. Sometimes all shrill arpeggios, sometimes discordant breaking glass, sometimes pounding and thunderous, it's hard to subtract the director's bravura turn from the whole. There were times I found the piano insistent and relentless, at other times delicate and moody... on the whole I think he pulls it off rather well. It's brave, and there's no hiding behind the actors here.

This is one of the best things to hit the Sydney stage this year - tix are only about $40, so go see if you can.

A la prochâine