Nimble, naturalistic sets (designed by Chloe Lamford, lighting by James Farncombe), revolve briskly, in short scenes, between international school and wedding feast. Threads are drawn together until, in a final twist, we understand the story’s awful resonance. The bride knows nothing of the tragedy but the secret cannot be kept. A wedding is taking place, 10 years after the attack in which 10 students and a teacher were killed. To a crisp libretto by the Finnish writer Sofi Oksanen, with translation and dramaturgy by Aleksi Barrière, the action shifts across two timelines. First seen in Aix-en-Provence in 2021, with mostly the same cast and artistic team, Innocence was – as then – conducted by Susanna Mälkki and directed by Simon Stone ( Phaedra, National Theatre), both making welcome house debuts. The impact, however, is primarily meditative, the suspense psychological rather than theatrical or dogmatic. Since the subject matter is gun violence, specifically a school shooting in Finland and its aftermath, we knew what lay ahead. This international joint commission was given its UK premiere at the Royal Opera House last Monday. A s if immobilised by an alien force, the audience scarcely stirred for the 105-minute duration of Innocence by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho (1952-).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |