The Merry Widow

Making a successful transition from classic to contemporary requires the courage to toy with the boundaries of convention. Director Cezary Tomaszewski gives this formula a satirical twist in his avant-garde version of The Merry Widow.

Article by Fiona Campbell | 17 Nov 2009

 

Originally composed by Austro-Hungarian Franz Lehar in 1905 the operetta is based on the struggles of rich widow Hanna to find a suitable husband. While Tomaszewski’s production is, on the surface, absent of any parallel to the original plot, the underlying theme of caste approval resonates, as four Polish women depict a self-deprecating, humorous tale of their lives as migrant cleaners in the United Kingdom.

This taboo cliché of migrant exploitation, if told via the medium of a middle class British actor, would incur controversy. But, when performed by four real life Polish cleaning ladies gently mocking the irony of a patronising image of themselves, constructed by a class obsessed British public, it transcends controversy to become comedy.

Yet humorous it undoubtedly was: placing the quartet centre stage, each take their turn to read a monologue of how they reached this point in their lives. Delivered with blithely, unpretentious warmth each reveals their dreams, aspirations, disappointments and revelations.

The structure, however, is off putting with cast members fragmenting into noisy distracting duets alongside the monologues. This marked a clear change of direction, delving into a sub-plot alluding to the turbulent love affair of Hanna and Danilo in the original production. It also served to shift the tone of the performance as portrayals became exaggerated and over-bearing, like children fighting for attention in a school play with humour verging on slap-stick silly.

Redeemed by elegant bursts of song from the original score, at times so pitch perfect that the audience fell into an awestruck trance. The vocals carried with them a poignant empathy, a sense of regret that despite such glaring talent their dreams have yet to be lived. Tomaszewski’s re-envisioned production represents not solely the unfulfilled aspirations of the performers, but the romanticised ambitions and hopes embedded in everyone.

Run ended

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