Jonathan Dove’s The Monster in the Maze was given its Australasian premiere in this taut production. Central to New Zealand Opera’s strategy of embedding community focus at the heart of its mission, it is designed as a work in which members of community and youth ensembles and choirs can perform alongside seasoned professionals. Within that, Alasdair Middleton’s libretto deliberately places much of the narrative in the voices of the amateur choral forces. While a retelling of the familiar Minotaur myth, the libretto pares down the story considerably to its essential elements: the children of Athens are forced to travel to Crete as a sacrifice, Theseus among them, and the eventual slaying of the beast by Theseus. This reorients the narrative to focus on the triumph of the collective over the oppression of King Minos’ Crete.
Director Anapela Polata’ivao handled these mixed forces of amateurs and professionals with seamless assurance, the crowds’ movements across the stage showing both clarity and intent. Her vision was heavily supported by the set and lighting designs. Vertical and horizontal panels shift to suggest the claustrophobic dimensions of the Labyrinth, while projections transform them variously into the enraged Minotaur, dazzling bursts of light, and even fragments of Minos’ orations. A clever twist comes when the anticipated reveal of the Minotaur turns out instead to be the unveiling of the brass “banda” at the rear of the stage, who in turn introduce the Minotaur’s appearance on the Labyrinth’s panels, a subversion of the audience’s expectations as well as a chance to highlight those community brass players.
Of the solo perfomers, undoubtedly the star of the show was young, promising tenor Ipu Laga’aia as Theseus. In his lead role debut with New Zealand Opera, he brought both heroic swagger and lyrical warmth to his vocal lines, secure and rich across his whole vocal range. Though the role is a bit under-characterised in the libretto, Laga’aia brought a young Siegfried-like confidence to the character that worked well to establish his motivations and actions. As his mother, Sarah Castle was very moving in her anguished attempts to stop him from leaving to challenge the minotaur, some challenges on high notes notwithstanding, and Daedalus, the creator of the Labyrinth, was played sympathetically by the warm bass-baritone of Joel Amosa. Minos, the oppressive king of Crete, is written for an actor and Maaka Pohatu dominated the stage at his every appearance, alternately whispering sinisterly and bellowing his proclamations.
The children’s and youth choruses acquitted themselves with admirable control, maintaining crisp diction as they laid out their feelings in Athens, and with rhythmic alertness particularly striking in the battle sequence, where their shouted “smacks”, “bangs” and “oofs” punctuated the combat between hero and beast. The adult chorus, comprising both community and professional singers, proved mostly indistinguishable from a purely professional ensemble, negotiating tricky cross-rhythms impressively. The instrumental ensemble, meanwhile, leaned into Dove’s percussive, brass-heavy textures, with the lower brass memorably evoking the menace of the Minotaur.
Ultimately, this production was not just an enjoyable evening of music-making, but also demonstrated the ability of contemporary opera to reach beyond its traditional audiences. Dove and Middleton’s work creates a rare opportunity for the community, especially the young, to engage with opera when it is specifically tailored to them, allowing them to build bonds with those performing opera, and indeed, to opera itself.
