Scottish Opera Karl Marx In London Festival Theatre Edinburgh 22nd February 2024 Review
Scottish Opera: Marx in London! is at the Festival Theatre Edinburgh (Thu 22 & Sat 24 Feb) and if you think that this work is going to be a heavyweight work of political and economic theories then be prepared to be surprised. Instead of this, this production with music by Jonathan Dove and libretto by Charles Hart (based on an original scenario by Jurgen R Weber) is a light comedy opera which follows the chaotic life and events of Karl Marx and family and his household over a period of 24 hours whilst living at the completely unaffordable 41 Maitland Park Road in August 1871.
My immediate reaction to this work was in fact more to do with my own lack of familiarity with the subject matter and Karl Marx himself. Yes I know who Karl Marx was, I have seen his face on endless posters over the years, endless quotes from his major works and from the man himself, but the truth is that I have never studied, in fact never even read his major works and know very little about the man and his private life, other than at a very superficial level.
Given that this work was originally conceived and performed in Germany (still in English though) in 2018 to celebrate the 200th year of the birth of Karl Marx, my own lack of many reference points in tonight’s performance was obviously going to present some problems in reviewing this work. I suspect that Karl Marx is, despite his iconic status and name known to millions of people, still to many other people a name like many others in our pop culture world where so much of anything and anyone is “understood” at a “Wikipedia” level by so many of us.
When something like this happens there is only one thing that you can really do as a reviewer and that is disassociate to a certain level about whom this work is about and look at the work purely in context of what it is at its core, who are the characters in it and how are they defined both musically (this is an opera after all) and as individuals and how do they interact with other people to tell this story and keep it moving throughout the production. Obviously the music itself has to be considered along with the dialogue along with the many other elements needed to frame this story such as set and costume design, lighting and sound. As long as the characters are strong and well individually defined, the story is good enough, and the music reflects all the different characters, emotions, colours, personality, and humour, then a good opera can be about anyone, any event, any place and set in any time. In “Marx in London!” all of this is achieved.
Musically “Marx in London!” is the most creative work that I have seen from Jonathan Dove, and his choice to write this score for Karl Marx, a man with many personal flaws, a man who always somehow manages to spend far more than he ever earns leading to him always moving from one financial crisis to another make this Karl Marx very human and the music for Karl something that we can all easily relate to. Had this music been written to depict Karl Marx the iconic, almost God-like figure that he is to many people, then it would have been very different and the comedy, almost vaudeville farce feeling that makes this production work so well would have been impossible to achieve. Here Roland Wood both vocally and dramatically is an excellent Karl Marx who gets the light comedy touch for this role just right. This Karl Marx is more concerned with the consequences of incurring the displeasure of his aristocratic born wife Jenny (Orla Boylan) and the discomfort of a boil on his backside than any threats against his life from agents of foreign powers.
The way that Jonathan Dove has created distinct musical personalities for everyone here (often taking inspiration from the real life person) is what holds this work together, and the fun that Rebecca Bottone is having with her role as Karl’s daughter Tussi Marx is obvious. A well written role, often full of innuendo in the dialogue gives this character the comedy lightness that this sort of work needs.
At its heart the decision to focus this story on the two long suffering women in the life of Karl Marx rather than political and economic ideologies is what makes this story a human one and gives Orla Boylan (Jenny Marx) and Lucy Schaufer (housekeeper Helene) the space needed to make both these roles very individual and fun to watch performances. Their sharing of their Marxist woes over a bottle of gin together is a classic opera drinking scene in its own right. Karl Marx of course has his own down the local pub scene too and here the duel of ideologies that develops between him and Melanzane
(Paul Hopwood) is one of the highlights of the show.
Every comedy/farce needs that unexpected element in it and Freddy (William Morgan) fills that role here, but how I am not going to tell you as that would ruin a few surprises. A special note needs to go to Alasdair Elliott as Friedrich Engels, the oft times economic saviour of Karl Marx.
This is one production I will need to see again if it returns to touring, as next time, fortified with a better understanding of who Karl Marx is, I will be able to pick up on many more of the subtle references that are throughout this work both in words and music.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
My immediate reaction to this work was in fact more to do with my own lack of familiarity with the subject matter and Karl Marx himself. Yes I know who Karl Marx was, I have seen his face on endless posters over the years, endless quotes from his major works and from the man himself, but the truth is that I have never studied, in fact never even read his major works and know very little about the man and his private life, other than at a very superficial level.
Given that this work was originally conceived and performed in Germany (still in English though) in 2018 to celebrate the 200th year of the birth of Karl Marx, my own lack of many reference points in tonight’s performance was obviously going to present some problems in reviewing this work. I suspect that Karl Marx is, despite his iconic status and name known to millions of people, still to many other people a name like many others in our pop culture world where so much of anything and anyone is “understood” at a “Wikipedia” level by so many of us.
When something like this happens there is only one thing that you can really do as a reviewer and that is disassociate to a certain level about whom this work is about and look at the work purely in context of what it is at its core, who are the characters in it and how are they defined both musically (this is an opera after all) and as individuals and how do they interact with other people to tell this story and keep it moving throughout the production. Obviously the music itself has to be considered along with the dialogue along with the many other elements needed to frame this story such as set and costume design, lighting and sound. As long as the characters are strong and well individually defined, the story is good enough, and the music reflects all the different characters, emotions, colours, personality, and humour, then a good opera can be about anyone, any event, any place and set in any time. In “Marx in London!” all of this is achieved.
Musically “Marx in London!” is the most creative work that I have seen from Jonathan Dove, and his choice to write this score for Karl Marx, a man with many personal flaws, a man who always somehow manages to spend far more than he ever earns leading to him always moving from one financial crisis to another make this Karl Marx very human and the music for Karl something that we can all easily relate to. Had this music been written to depict Karl Marx the iconic, almost God-like figure that he is to many people, then it would have been very different and the comedy, almost vaudeville farce feeling that makes this production work so well would have been impossible to achieve. Here Roland Wood both vocally and dramatically is an excellent Karl Marx who gets the light comedy touch for this role just right. This Karl Marx is more concerned with the consequences of incurring the displeasure of his aristocratic born wife Jenny (Orla Boylan) and the discomfort of a boil on his backside than any threats against his life from agents of foreign powers.
The way that Jonathan Dove has created distinct musical personalities for everyone here (often taking inspiration from the real life person) is what holds this work together, and the fun that Rebecca Bottone is having with her role as Karl’s daughter Tussi Marx is obvious. A well written role, often full of innuendo in the dialogue gives this character the comedy lightness that this sort of work needs.
At its heart the decision to focus this story on the two long suffering women in the life of Karl Marx rather than political and economic ideologies is what makes this story a human one and gives Orla Boylan (Jenny Marx) and Lucy Schaufer (housekeeper Helene) the space needed to make both these roles very individual and fun to watch performances. Their sharing of their Marxist woes over a bottle of gin together is a classic opera drinking scene in its own right. Karl Marx of course has his own down the local pub scene too and here the duel of ideologies that develops between him and Melanzane
(Paul Hopwood) is one of the highlights of the show.
Every comedy/farce needs that unexpected element in it and Freddy (William Morgan) fills that role here, but how I am not going to tell you as that would ruin a few surprises. A special note needs to go to Alasdair Elliott as Friedrich Engels, the oft times economic saviour of Karl Marx.
This is one production I will need to see again if it returns to touring, as next time, fortified with a better understanding of who Karl Marx is, I will be able to pick up on many more of the subtle references that are throughout this work both in words and music.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com