2018 Hong Kong Arts Festival - Pelléas et Mélisande (Debussy), Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre, 15 March 2018

Pelléas - Jacques Imbrailo
Mélisande - Jurgita Adamonyté
Golaud - Christopher Purves
Geneviève - Leah-Marian Jones
Arkel - Alfred Reiter
Yniold - Rebecca Bottone

Die Konzertisten
Orchestra and chorus of the Welsh National Opera
Lothar Koenigs (conductor)
David Pountney (director)

Death and torment were the recurring themes in this production of Debussy’s operatic response to Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde. Pountney probably found the moment when Golaud moaned about the dead surrounded them poignant. A large circular metal cage in skeleton shape dominated the stage surrounded by a pond, possibly a reference to Debussy’s orchestral colour associated with the movement of sea. The set made a daunting appearance alike a prison trapping its residents and haunted them in an eerie environment. The old men in the sea cave became ghost to the horror of Pelléas, a nightmarish illusion when Mélisande was first frightened by their sudden presence. Later in the dungeon, Pelléas saw the zombies and terrified by what he saw.

Yet beautiful light effects and starry backdrop could transform into a romantic setting where the protagonists exchanged their affections. The sublime revealing of Melisande’s beauty in the moonlight created the sensual attraction that not only Pelléas was madly in love with her, Arkel too as he later marvelled the beauty of his daughter in law. This was very different from Golaud, brilliantly portrayed by Christopher Purves, who was driven by jealousy and obsessed with domestic violence. His wife, brother and son were treated as his properties like sheep and he felt as he was their shepherd, as Yniold metaphorically described during act three. In rage, Golaud shaked Mélisande violently in the pond and pulled her hairs, in prior told Yniold off as he lost temper when the spying came to no prove of fidelity, and later threatened Pelléas in the dungeon telling him to stay away from Mélisande. Even at Mélisande’s deathbed, Golaud could not come around as she confessed she did not love him yet he felt guilty by killing Pelléas.

Although the inner plot was about the introvert romance between Pelléas and Mélisande, I felt the outer plot had more weight in this performance, which became a frantic investigation of Mélisande’s infidelity by Golaud and his self-conflict madness within. One could still sense the passionate emotions on surface but there seems lacking a level of depth in displaying the more complex inner psychological connections. Perhaps the portrayal was so realist and plainly symbolic, it did not leave much room for the mysterious and surreal portrayal. Such was the red outfits that Pelléas and Mélisande wore before the murder, which seems suggested both the climatic affection between the two yet later the colour of their blood when Golaud stabbed.

It was strange to ask for more strangeness but the basis of this opera was to let the unspoken and silence provoked the feeling. Pountney probably saw it differently and left with few unexpected: the doctor resembled Debussy himself but he was there to justify Golaud's action and nothing musical; Geneviève throw the newborn child into the pond but became white powder on the surface; Mélisande died but her reappearance at the very end wrapped in white cloth got us back to the beginning. Like me and my colleague singing in the offstage chorus, we made a loud voice heard in distance but never appear on stage, despite the protagonists described us as the sailors sailed into a storm. There were no clear answer to all these puzzles, but created the enigma to indulge and continued guessing who were these people and their purpose after all.

Yet this was one of the best opera productions I experienced in Hong Kong since Fidelio by Komische Oper back in 2004. Besides the set looked spectacular, it was in the right size for the grand theatre stage. The brilliant light effects also produced many visual stirring moments. Dramaturgy was excellent throughout with the sheer dramatic intensity that sustained the theatrical excitement. Besides a great actor, vocally Christopher Purves filled the space of the auditorium with his full bodied voice, and he coloured the words so vividly. He kept the beauty in tone yet very flexible in switching the vocal colour while dramatising the text. Jacques Imbrailo had a warmer timbre than some other singers I experienced as Pelléas before, which often very bright and silvery by comparison. Both his singing and portrayal of the role carried more emotions that felt more human and passionate. Vocally Jurgita Adamonyté was lighter in body yet lyrically fluid. Diction probably could have been clear but acting wise Mélisande was the most challenging of all. She nonetheless very ably realised the vulnerability and sadness of Mélisande in front of Golaud, energetic and excited in seeing Pelléas, and the mysterious outlook when the character became an object. Rebecca Bottone carried the right timbre for Yniold and her struggle with Golaud was dramatically intense. The orchestra was very responsive to Lothar Koenigs's direction and delivered many silky playing. It neither overwhelmed the singers, but also provided the lyrical backbone as the main block of shaping the delicate harmonic colour. As a whole, this production worth a future revisit.