Jonathan Dove’s Mansfield Park, with libretto by Alasdair Middleton after Jane Austen, was first performed in 2011, and was designed for intimate performance in country houses. Waterperry Opera presented Rebecca Meltzer’s production in 2018, and it returns there in August.
Yet it also transferred remarkably well to the early 19th-century St Marylebone Parish Church, as part of this year’s St Marylebone Festival. Making good use of offstage, and the back of the church for a sense of distance on Mr Rushworth’s estate, plus delightful period costumes, it is however the strong characterisation by all the cast of ten that creates the illusion of the setting. Cast members when not singing are engaged as trees, statues and even gates. Everything gallops along at a great pace, like the barouche that Julia Bertram is rather obsessed with – indeed, the full cast take us on a comedy barouche ride at one point, complete with ensemble braking and swerving. Dove’s driving music adds to this sense of forward momentum, as do the chorally announced chapters.
The plot, for those not familiar, is not unpredictable, with the impoverished and put-upon heroine Fanny Price being tormented by the Bertram sisters and Aunt Norris in pantomime fashion, before ultimately good prevails and she wins over the love of Edmund Bertram. Along the way the caddish Henry Crawford and his scheming sister Mary are undone, and various class pretensions (not least marrying for “twelve thousand pounds”, not love) are poked and lampooned.
Dove and Middleton use clever techniques to draw us through a lot of plot in a short space of time. The scene in the second half, where I think six of the characters write letters in turn, fills in the shifting emotions rather neatly, and their circular movements around the stage are deftly choreographed. And the choreography definitely deserves a mention – no moment is wasted, so whilst formally dancing in another scene, the cast also deliver multiple weaving lines of contrasting emotions, no mean feat. It is further testament to the strength of the cast, and presumably their familiarity with the music (as the cast is largely unchanged from the first Waterperry outing) that they blend these lines perfectly, no one singer dominating.
Emily Gray’s bumbling Lady Bertram was marvellously deadpan throughout, with the pug puppet in her arms in danger of stealing scenes once or twice. Phil Wilcox’s Sir Thomas was imposing and also bewildered at times by the nonsense unfolding, particularly when he returns to find them engaged in play-acting. Eleanor Garside had some gloriously comic facial expressions for the frustrated and disapproving Aunt Norris.
Both Charlotte Hoather and Eleanor Sanderson-Nash brought determination and scheming to their respective roles as Maria Bertram and Mary Crawford. Sanderson-Nash’s genuine disbelief turning to anger when Mary’s duplicity is unveiled by Edmund was particularly convincing. Lawrence Thackeray, as the nice but dim Mr Rushworth, impressively managed to lead the audience from early comedic buffoonery to a place of real empathy at his realisation of being betrayed. Sarah Ann Champion’s Julia Bertram was suitably stroppy and less sharp than her sister, with a beautifully judged comic struggle with her needlepoint that may have gone unnoticed as the cast assembled gradually on stage before the opera began.
Robin Bailey’s Henry Crawford oozed arrogance and a sense of his own charm, and his sure, penetrating tenor voice rang out defiantly in the church’s rich acoustic. Milo Harries as Edmund Bertram in contrast kept his powder dry, seeming almost reticent early on, but blooming vocally as his character gained stature. Similarly, Flora MacDonald’s Fanny Price grew in presence, and her growth in confidence is also there in Dove’s writing, giving her much more prominence in the latter part of the opera.
With a score for four hands piano, played here by Musical Director Ashley Beauchamp and pianist George Ireland, Dove conjures up a remarkable variety of moods, switching from silent movie comedy capers to subtle hints of classical pastiche, as well as minimalist rocking between major and minor at moments of high emotion. There are some great ensemble pieces, such as a particularly intense, emotional quartet towards the end of the first half, and the aforementioned letter-writing scene, Dove also uses the full cast for some stunning moments of choral singing, not least for the recurring statement of “Mansfield Park”.
With a uniformly strong cast and glorious singing resounding in the church’s warm acoustic, this was a joyous outing for a consistently entertaining and cleverly constructed chamber opera.
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