Edinburgh Fringe 2024
STUMPED
Lewis Coenen-Rowe
Genre: Music, Opera and Operatic Theatre
Venue: Scottish Storytelling Centre
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
We have all been there: We search for something online, find something curious, something that piques our interested. We follow it up with another search and another and before we know it we have entered an internet rabbit warren. Maybe the only thing that makes us stop is the sun raising on the next day. This opera is the story of such a night.
Review
When the music starts the protagonists have fallen asleep over their books and laptops. Although they are together on stage, they are actually occupying different spaces. Their means of communication is a chat room.
There is Myth_Moth sung by Shuna Sendall, who finds a study online that contradicts the orthodox thought on deforestation. She is surprised, confused, astounded; well, stumped. She messages historymystery sung by Catherine Backhousee. Could there be any truth in what the paper says? History mystery starts researching the people who published the document. They appear to be shady. Both women go on a quest to find out the truth about the impact of cutting down trees on a big scale.
Their research is extensive. They go way back and come across classic authors who more than two millennia ago denied men made influence on nature even though it was already well observed. We discover that plus ça change plus c’est la même chose. One of the authors quoted is Cicero. A man greatly revered by many ages.
Myth_Moth and historymystery dig up one legend or ancient tale after the other. Lewis Coenen-Rowe, who not only composed the opera, but also wrote and compiled the libretto, weaves ancient tales into the chats of the protagonists. He draws on The Epic of Gilgamesh (anon.), The Tale of Two Brothers (anon.), Mahabharata (anon.), Metamorphoses (Ovid) and The Poetic Edda (anon.). In the subtitles the chat appears in white with a logo and the username of the protagonist, the elements taken from the legends are shown in orange. At first the various narratives are fairly distinct. There is the chat among the women talking about their research and then there are the resources that also talk about cutting trees and the impact thereof. The two levels of narrative slowly start to weave into each other and become one. At the end the audience is left with the impression that we have always known in one way or the other that humans impact the environment in a negative way. We might have blamed the wrath of a higher being for it, but we knew that using without replenishing was ultimately a bad decision in the long wrong.
Coenen-Rowe’s score creates a soundscape that support the singers. In modern opera it is fairly rare to find a score that puts the voice first instead of using it as an equal instrument. The effect of this prima le parole et poi la musica is that the text is incredibly easy to understand. The surtitles are more pointers whether what is sung is part of the story or one of the legends. We are therefore more immersed in the events on stage. The music is not idle. A small band in the unusual combination of two brass and two string players (Trumpet: Mark Elwis, Trombone: Symone Hutchison, Violin: Emma Lloyd, Cello: Laura Sergeant) has a minimalist feel even though it isn’t. The focus is on the brass, especially the trumpet seems to be the lead instrument in this work. There are call and echoes between brass and strings with the trumpet being echoed by the violin and the trombone by the cello. This unusual arrangement makes us sit up and listen. It reminds us to maybe not take things for granted, to not assume that we know how things are. They can actually be different. Under the baton of Thomas Butler the band sound is balanced and never downs the singers. We can hear clever effects in the score when they should stand out, but are left to hear the singers when they have climactic moments.
The director Edie Bailey used Hunter Muir’s scenography well and brought action and clever visuals into a work that ultimately is two people engaged in a written conversation quoting written works.
At the end of the opera, which was very well received by the Fringe audience, the production had invited a guest speaker to talk about a reforestation project in Scotland. These speakers will change at every performance and after presenting their project, they will allow questions. This work was supported by the Made in Scotland Showcase.
