272 years on, Handel's Theodora comes home to Covent Garden

On the plus side, Handel’s Theodora has some of the most sublime music that he or any other composer ever wrote. On the minus side, the story of a pair of Christian martyrs meekly going to meet their doom at the hands of Antioch’s Roman overlords isn’t exactly uplifting stuff. Written for the Covent Garden Theatre in 1750 and given just three performances, it’s had to wait 272 years for last night’s fourth outing.

The Royal Opera accentuated the plus side by throwing in two of the finest Handelian voices you could wish to hear – Joyce DiDonato and Jakub Józef Orliński. Director Katie Mitchell dealt with the minus side by replacing the meek martyrdom story with a visual narrative of her own, with mixed results.

In the role of Theodora’s lover Didymus, Orliński simply blew us away with his first big aria “The raptur’d soul defies the sword”. Orliński has a peaches and cream timbre that he can shape into a deliriously delicious confection. The unaccompanied beginning of the da capo repeat, with its delicate ornamentation, simply had us swooning in our seats and the countertenor’s standard didn’t really dip from there. Together with boy-band good looks and massive on-stage charisma, he really is quite the package. DiDonato is more of a known factor, having sung the role of Theodora’s confidante Irene in countless major opera houses, most recently touring the work in concert to coincide with a new recording. The acclaim she has received is entirely merited. DiDonato’s understanding of how to construct a Handelian aria, together with complete mastery of timbre, accenting and phrasing, allows her to extract the maximum out of every note she sings. The prayer “Lord, to thee each night and day” was one highlight out of many.

In the title role, Julia Bullock didn’t reach the same heights. That’s partly because the music isn’t as compelling (there just isn’t an aria at the level of “The raptur’d soul” or “Kind Heav’n”), partly because the stage direction wasn’t helping (it can’t be easy to spin out a big lyrical lament standing between a pair of pole-dancers doing their stuff) and partly because she was competing with co-stars with huge Baroque experience. Bullock shone most brightly in her closing duet with Orlinski “Streams of pleasure ever flowing”, another of the highlights of the evening.

From the initial “Come, mighty Father”, the Royal Opera Chorus performed wonderfully as the chorus of Christians (the initial heathen chorus had a few rough edges). Harry Bicket drew some accurate, well accented, well phrased playing from the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, but couldn’t escape a certain heaviness of sound that often threatened the singers, who were at their best when accompanied by just continuo.

Mitchell’s staging uses her usual style of setting: a present-day hotel (here styled as the “Roman Embassy”) with the depth of the stage compressed, characters often shown crossing the stage in profile, plenty of food-and-beverage activity, men dressed in business suits. Within this context, some of the ideas work well. Bringing the Christians on site (Theodora, Irene and their friends are the kitchen staff) is effective in drawing them into the action. Turning the prostitutes in the temple of Venus into (probably trafficked) pole dancers doling out their favours in a locked room in the embassy basement is a good updating. You expect a feminist focus from Mitchell and her portrayal of Valens and the Romans as brutal misogynists rings true and hits hard.

But Mitchell retains a fondness for distracting us from the action. On the one hand, I buy the idea of Theodora and Irene being religious extremist terrorists. But I’m just not interested in watching a second rate cop thriller in slow motion, complete with lots of guns being waved round with no real dramatic purpose, when what I’m listening to is one of Handel’s many languidly beautiful laments. Hilarious as it was to see Orliński in drag being given pole dancing lessons, I didn’t want it as the visual addition to the fabulous Christian chorus in the adjacent room. And I certainly didn’t want the closing “O love divine” to be set to Theodora and Didymus shooting their way out of trouble in slo-mo. Not for the first time with a Mitchell staging – and this is reinforced by her comments in the programme note – I felt that here is someone directing a piece that they don’t really like.

Setting aside the TV thriller extra narrative, this is a creditable performance with some top notch singing and highly watchable stars. Theodora’s return to its birthplace has been long overdue, simply for a concentrated dose of Handel’s stunning music, and this is well worth a visit.