Scottish Opera The Makropulos Affair Festival Theatre Edinburgh 27th February 2025 Review
Scottish Opera The Makropulos Affair by Leoš Janáček, which was adapted from the play by Karel Čapek is at The Festival Theatre for two dates only (Thu 27 February and Saturday 1 March). Sadly, this leaves little time for anyone reading this review of the Thursday performance to still book seats for the remaining performance. Seats are selling fast though, which is not surprising as this is an interesting opera at so many different levels.
This opera is a co-production with Welsh National Opera, which was first performed at the Millennium Centre, Cardiff on 16 September 2022 to enthusiastic reviews. The Makropulos Affair will be 100 years old next year, having had its first performance at the National Theatre, Brno on 18th December 1926. This production is sung in English.
The Makropulos Affair is an “opera dialogue” in which all lines are sung and here it is a format that, for me, works well as the setting, mostly in a lawyer's office, back stage at a theatre or a bedroom, suits it well. This setting also gives a very different atmosphere to some of Janáček’s other works in which he prefers the rural countryside as his story place.
If there is any negative about The Makropulos Affair it is that this is a dramatically rich narrative that requires you to pay attention at all times as the devil really is in the detail here and sometimes this can mean that Janáček’s superb musical score is not getting the full attention that it deserves. This is also a very dramatic work, and some people reading this review might be asking if singing all of the dialogue actually adds anything to the story, but this is an opera, this is a Scottish Opera production and “opera dialogue”, and this is an operatic format that has been popular for a long time, so no surprises there.
Normally the “opera dialogue” format raises no questions, but here Janáček has created a very cinematic production with this work and that is emphasised here even more with new video design by Sam Sharples. This cinematic work which accompanies the opening overture and important moments in the story is very much at the cutting edge of avante-garde cinema of the period that this work is set in, the 1920s.
Without giving all of the plot away, there is a century long inheritance dispute at the heart of this, and one woman, celebrated opera singer Emilia Marty seems to know a lot more about this case than anyone living should know. Giving nothing away here, we learn that Emilia has had an unexpectedly long lifetime.
It is easy to see why the role of Emilia Marty/Elina Makropulos is one that so many women want to portray. It is a demanding role (as are many in this opera), but it has everything that any performer would want plus this role also asks so many questions about what such a long life would do to a human being. Here many questions are raised and perhaps the most important one is what such a lifespan does to someone's basic humanity, their empathy with other people and, maybe most important, can they still love someone whilst knowing that they will probably long outlive them. In this role, Orla Boylan gives a fine performance that touches on the many complex physical and emotional aspects of Emilia Marty that such a long life has forced upon her.
Stepping up to the stage to replace the indisposed Ryan Capozzo with his Scottish Opera debut, Norwegian tenor Thorbjørn Gulbrandsøy was impressive in the very demanding role of Albert Gregor, a contemporary contester to the inheritance.
There are no weak links performance-wise in this production and the attention to period detail (designer Nicola Turner) is impressive. Equally impressive is the score for “The Makropulos Affair” performed by The chorus of Scottish Opera/The Makropulos Affair and the programme notes give some indication of just how much work has gone into this production to bring the smallest details of Leoš Janáček to life on stage tonight.
Review by Tom King © 2025
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
This opera is a co-production with Welsh National Opera, which was first performed at the Millennium Centre, Cardiff on 16 September 2022 to enthusiastic reviews. The Makropulos Affair will be 100 years old next year, having had its first performance at the National Theatre, Brno on 18th December 1926. This production is sung in English.
The Makropulos Affair is an “opera dialogue” in which all lines are sung and here it is a format that, for me, works well as the setting, mostly in a lawyer's office, back stage at a theatre or a bedroom, suits it well. This setting also gives a very different atmosphere to some of Janáček’s other works in which he prefers the rural countryside as his story place.
If there is any negative about The Makropulos Affair it is that this is a dramatically rich narrative that requires you to pay attention at all times as the devil really is in the detail here and sometimes this can mean that Janáček’s superb musical score is not getting the full attention that it deserves. This is also a very dramatic work, and some people reading this review might be asking if singing all of the dialogue actually adds anything to the story, but this is an opera, this is a Scottish Opera production and “opera dialogue”, and this is an operatic format that has been popular for a long time, so no surprises there.
Normally the “opera dialogue” format raises no questions, but here Janáček has created a very cinematic production with this work and that is emphasised here even more with new video design by Sam Sharples. This cinematic work which accompanies the opening overture and important moments in the story is very much at the cutting edge of avante-garde cinema of the period that this work is set in, the 1920s.
Without giving all of the plot away, there is a century long inheritance dispute at the heart of this, and one woman, celebrated opera singer Emilia Marty seems to know a lot more about this case than anyone living should know. Giving nothing away here, we learn that Emilia has had an unexpectedly long lifetime.
It is easy to see why the role of Emilia Marty/Elina Makropulos is one that so many women want to portray. It is a demanding role (as are many in this opera), but it has everything that any performer would want plus this role also asks so many questions about what such a long life would do to a human being. Here many questions are raised and perhaps the most important one is what such a lifespan does to someone's basic humanity, their empathy with other people and, maybe most important, can they still love someone whilst knowing that they will probably long outlive them. In this role, Orla Boylan gives a fine performance that touches on the many complex physical and emotional aspects of Emilia Marty that such a long life has forced upon her.
Stepping up to the stage to replace the indisposed Ryan Capozzo with his Scottish Opera debut, Norwegian tenor Thorbjørn Gulbrandsøy was impressive in the very demanding role of Albert Gregor, a contemporary contester to the inheritance.
There are no weak links performance-wise in this production and the attention to period detail (designer Nicola Turner) is impressive. Equally impressive is the score for “The Makropulos Affair” performed by The chorus of Scottish Opera/The Makropulos Affair and the programme notes give some indication of just how much work has gone into this production to bring the smallest details of Leoš Janáček to life on stage tonight.
Review by Tom King © 2025
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com