Steven Pimlott has taken Puccini's La bohéme and turned it into a rollercoaster. The opera runs through an explosive mix of blossoming love and crushing loss anyway, but Pimlott's direction has managed to add even more to it. Most people think of the opera in terms of the relationship between the poet Rodolfo and the fragile Mimi, seeing Puccini's work as a "boy meets girl" story filtered through comic support. I never have done -- I've always had a far greater soft spot for the parallel romance between the painter Marcello and the flamboyant Musetta. As such, I tend to approach the opera with a bit of trepidation, just in case the director hasn't noticed them, or has made them utterly dominant. So, it is with great joy that I can report that Pimlott has struck a great balance. Marcello and Rodolfo, splendidly sung by David Kempster and Rhys Meirion, bounced off one another with hearty affection, and Mimi (Linda Richardson on top form) was foiled perfectly by Sandra Zeltzer's Musetta.
The Coliseum is a very large house, resembling an accident in a Renaissance chocolate-box factory. This excessive opulence was countered by Tobias Hoheisel's spartan set, which would not have looked out of place in Withnail and I, especially when mixed with the down-at-heel costuming on the four male "artists" who are Rodolfo's flatmates. Yes, "flatmates" -- the translation into English throughout was wonderfully playful, the text being brought up to date by references to Cluedo and Psycho, along with this description of the male leads. Despite the almost bare set, the first half conveyed a sense of the anarchy of Christmas Eve wonderfully, using that most potent of stage dressing -- actors. In Act II's festival scene the stage was packed almost to bursting, assaulting the eye and ear with all the energy of the holiday. The sight of Philip Thomlinson scootling about on his unicycle definitely brought a smile to the house's face, but the intensity did threaten to drown the leads on a couple of occasions. The feast also brought forth Musetta in a startling red dress, countering the frailties of Mimi by looking for all the world like Jessica Rabbit had taken up opera. If one thing sticks in the memory of the loosely 50s setting, it will be that dress!
The infinitely more depressing second half was made potent and involving through clever lighting and furniture arrangement on stage- the very place seemed smaller somehow. "Outside" (wonderfully expressed in the first half through off-stage singing as a place of laughter) was made oppressive and alien as the leads clustered away from the doors. Good direction and excellent singing held the audience as the tension built for the inevitable conclusion. The fall of the curtain was met with a real sense that it couldn't be over, a feeling built in part by an excellent final tableau.
The ENO production of La bohéme is a clever sum of small parts. I have neither the time nor inclination to tell of the clever touches that brought it so vividly to life (go see it yourself!), but I will mention to look out for the beggar woman in Act II, who "holds" one half of the stage just by throwing feathers. The production is snappy, sharp and intense: overall it is thoroughly enjoyable. If I must gripe, then the score occasionally overpowered the singers, but only briefly, and the initial exchange between Rodolfo and Marcello was a little unclear. However, such things could not detract from the excellent performances all round: Mimi is a hard part to play, but Richardson steered her perfectly between frail and cute, the artists were great, and Rodolfo had just the right amount of naïveté to make him believable. Go see it.
La bohéme is running until November 7th at the Coliseum, London. For bookings call 020 7632 8300 or go to www.eno.org
Also reviewed by Steve Penn:
LA BOHEME at the English National Opera
DAVE LEWIS at the Photographer's Gallery
JUAN MUNOZ at Tate Modern
CHEN ZHEN at the Serpentine Gallery
