RIVERFRONT THEATRE, NEWPORT Music Theatre Wales’s production of Philip Venables and Ted Huffman’s opera gives horrible immediacy to their oblique take on a tale of transgressive teens Romeo and Juliet crossed with Bonnie and Clyde: Denis Muravyov and Katya Vlasova were both innocent and transgressive. Music Theatre Wales’s UK premiere of an opera based on the true story of two Russian 15-year-olds in the Pskov town of Strugi Krasnye, who over three days livestreamed their own demise on Periscope, is chilling. The standoff and police shootout was the stuff of tragedy. Yet the manner of composer Philip Venables’s and librettist/director Ted Huffman’s telling of their tale is unusual. Neither Denis nor Katya is portrayed: instead events are plotted – piecemeal and post hoc – by two protagonists playing the roles of journalist, friend, neighbour, teenager, teacher and medic. Mezzo-soprano Emily Edmonds and baritone Johnny Herford, already much acclaimed in last year’s Opera Philadelphia premiere, project these with objectivity and passion. Four cellists, one in each corner of the bare set, form a sort of Greek chorus. Continue reading...
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