It’s Dido Jim, but not as we know it: Sasha Waltz’s decadent danced opera proves an occasionally baffling delight.

Lyric Theatre, The Star, Sydney

January 16, 2014

How gratifying for once to be in the middle of something so palpably divisive as Sasha Waltz’s 2004 scintillating adaptation of Dido and Aeneas which is finally seeing its premiere in Sydney. “What’s this got to do with the opera, tell me?” cried one disgruntled punter from the stalls about half an hour into the action. Some, on the other hand, gave the production a standing ovation at the end. Still others – perhaps baffled sponsor guests or those drawn by the glamour of the Festival’s top-price ticket event – voted with their feet, making noisy exits at various points during the show.

The current doyen among German choreographer’s hyperactive vision for Purcell’s opera begins with dancers cavorting in a gigantic fish tank and winds up with the heroine almost drowning in her own tumbling hair. On the way, Waltz’s dazzling imagination and sense of invention steers a course occassionally as wayward as the Stygian ‘sisters’ who plot the Carthaginian Queen’s downfall. At times she goes off-piste, as in a side-tracking sequence on the expected behaviour of the monarchy, but generally, if you know what the plot is all about, her take on this early English Baroque opera engages the eyes and ears for a full 100 minutes. That is a fairly big ‘if’ however, for in the absence of surtitles (many of the vocal cast are non-native English speakers), quite of few of those around me were left as floundering as Waltz's dancers after the water had run out of their tank.

The submarine sequences, bathed in Thilo Reuther’s ravishing golden light, happen before the Purcell proper gets underway – Waltz has added a prologue, as well as short joining interludes to cover scene changes, with music harvested from other works (King Arthur, Abeldazer etc). The imagery, as throughout the evening, is original, playful and complex. Five swimmers entwine in a series of highly charged sexual conjunctions. They then give us a laugh with some jigging legwork before finally metamorphosing into shipwrecked mariners washed up on the coast of Carthage.

Dido’s court is a captivating contemporary take on the Baroque – a decadent, pleasure-seeking crowd complete with much cross-dressing, eccentric headgear, bare-breasted ladies and men in flesh-coloured pants (Christine Birkle’s costumes are a multi-hued grab-bag of theatrical magic). These sybaritic partygoers generally have a whale of a time while Dido and her confidants fret about her amorous future. Movement throughout is fluid with much use of hand-language and dancers echoing each of the principal singers. One of Waltz’s great virtues is to incorporate her chorus and vocal soloists into the action, happy to work with a wide range of abilities as well as utilising dancers of all shapes, sizes and ages.

The witches’ scenes, resembling something out of Dante’s Inferno or else some kind of Satanic life-class, are another visual riot featuring a great deal of man and woman-flesh. The chorus here are happy to let it all hang out and frequently swing about. The beautifully lit writhing bodies conjuring up a storm that then subsides to become a meadow of waving human grass is just one of many visual highlights.

Mezzo-soprano Aurore Ugolin is a rich, dark-voiced, compelling Dido – more Jessye Norman than Emma Kirkby – her movement skills enhancing the passion of her vocal delivery. Reuben Willcox makes a suitably stentorian Aeneas. Deborah York is a charming, clear-toned Belinda. The other vocal principals are a bit of a mixed bunch, not all ideally audible but committed to the choreographic vision. Only Fabrice Mantegna’s very male Sorceress gets seriously lost in the mix.

The orchestra, the superb Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin under Christopher Moulds, play with an enviable fullness of tone and great style throughout. Their leader even manages a terpsichorean trip out of the pit and around the stage while leading a Purcellian hornpipe. Their solo concert on Saturday night promises to be a musical treat.

If there are still tickets, my advice is give Dido a go – but read up on the plot first and be prepared for contemporary dance to take precedence over opera. Love it or hate it, Waltz offers one of the most intriguing evenings of divine madness this side of heaven.

Dido and Aeneas is at the Sydney Festival until January 21.