Opera North stages Handel’s Susanna: how a woman stood up to her abusers

Susanna is one of Handel’s least-known oratorios and, directed by Olivia Fuchs for Opera North, it provides the company with an another opportunity to link up with the excellent Phoenix Dance Theatre with its artistic director Marcus Jarrell Willis. They make a strong connection between the biblical themes the composer had in mind in 1749 and contemporary events involving sexual exploitation and the abuse of power. The story is taken from an apocryphal addition to the Book of Daniel in which the eponymous heroine, alone at home, is spied upon and then brutally molested while she is taking a bath in her garden by two lewd elders, who subsequently accuse her of adultery with an unidentified young man, causing her to be condemned to death. 

She is saved by the prophet Daniel, who simply asks the elders – separately – which tree she was under when the incident happened. When they return contradictory answers, they become the ones hauled off for execution. Other composers have taken up the tale, for example William Byrd with the madrigal Susanna Fair, and in 1955 the American composer Carlisle Floyd moved the story to rural Tennessee in his opera Susannah, with the culprit cast as a rapist preacher. 

The crucial role of the chorus is to convey the bulk of the moral message, in the typical style of rhyming verse of the time, in this case a rather overripe version. It is full of pastoral references to nature, with rose, jasmine, oak and cypress abounding. The chorus, in the charge of Anthony Kraus, started Act 1 with the gloomy “How long, O Lord, shall Israel groan” and fully took off at the end of the act when it began with a continuation of the sombre and understated tones of the overture, then became more ebullient, transforming to great effect with “Yet His bolt shall quickly fly”. It was completely triumphant in Act 3 with “Bless'd be the day that gave Susanna birth” and finally “A virtuous wife shall soften fortune's frown”, when the orchestra also came into full force, with trumpets suddenly let loose.

Chorus members and principals interacted closely with the dancers, who either involved them physically, exploring their inner agonies, or offered parallel versions of their situations in the intimate drama, both on a large open space and on a rear stage structure which was a cross between a balcony and a footbridge. The nine dancers lifted each other, sprinted, twisted, posed and gestured with extraordinary skill and ingenuity, honouring Handel’s dance rhythms. Sign language performer Tianah Hodding was cleverly integrated with them.

As Susanna, soprano Anna Dennis sounded sweet or dark when necessary, though ‘serene’ would describe her performance best, as she evolved from a vulnerable and innocent character who enthusiastically hugs and kisses husband Joacim in Act 1 to a real authority in Act 3, not averse to kicking her abusers when they were grovelling on the ground. She was particularly impressive delivering the bathing scene aria “Crystal streams in murmurs flowing” beautifully. As her bathtub was brought onstage, a writhing dancer suddenly popped up from it, startlingly, and the abuse by the villainous pair was enacted with great dramatic skill. 

Countertenor James Hall sang Susanna’s trusting husband, whose effortlessly warm, agile voice was matched by considerable acting talent, most evidently when he found that his wife has been condemned. The elders wore grey business suits and carried briefcases, but were not complete caricatures: tenor Colin Judson as the First Elder had a particularly incisive manner and bass Karl Huml, the Second, revealed interesting signs of his lustful turmoil. Soprano Claire Lees was brilliant and poised as Daniel, a real charmer dressed as a kind of climate activist. 

The orchestra conducted by Johanna Soller was appropriately sensitive to the needs of an essentially intimate, relatively understated drama with tragic and euphoric moments. Opera North is entitled to boast about this latest successful collaboration with Phoenix Dance Theatre. Roll on the next one.