Originally staged in 2007 to a fairly divisive critical reception – reviews generally tended to be split between adoration and open hostility – physical theatre company Improbable’s staging of Philip Glass’ opera has made a return to the London Coliseum. The second of Glass’ biographical trilogy of operas, Satyagraha covers the early life of MK Gandhi following him from life in South Africa through to the origins of his practice of non-violent resistance (the Satyagraha of the title).
Despite being driven by an absolutely beautiful score given an almost hypnotic quality by its focus on repetition, Glass’ opera is a difficult prospect for the audience, being based around ideas rather than characters – the libretto rather than featuring dialogue is taken from passages in the Bhagavad Gita. To an extent the text of the libretto isn’t actually that important as Glass treats it like his score, repeating phrases of it over and over. Improbable negotiate their way around this by treating the work as a base on which to mount a show of pure spectacle. In addition to the opera’s soloists and chorus, the stage also features a number of physical performers who, using mime, puppetry and props based around sheets of newspaper (a recurring motif throughout the production, as is the later use of projections of news footage, possibly to illustrate Gandhi’s escalating fame/notoriety and his influence on other public figures), corrugated cardboard and, in an especially memorable part of the final act, an abundance of sticky tape. Although the scenes created are, very much like the music, beautiful but bewilderingly abstract, it’s hard not to be swept up in the excitement of what they manage to achieve with such mundane objects, creating evocative scenes such as a grimy, garbage-gothic South Africa in the opening act to a clean and bright future in the Martin Luther King featuring finale.
The singers all play their parts well, with the particular stand-out being Alan Oke as Gandhi, who’s, surprisingly infrequent, solos are all delivered with beautiful clarity. Unfortunately the orchestra could have been a bit louder – Glass’ music has a bold, propulsive quality to it, whereas here when they were drowned out by the singers, the orchestra seemed a little too light and polite.
Although now reaching the end of its run, hopefully the success of the original production and this revival will encourage the ENO to keep this staging in its repertoire and it won’t be long before we see it again.
