BY CARISSA DYALL
Rigoletto
Opera Australia
State Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne, 11 May
The opening night of Opera Australia’s Melbourne season featured Verdi’s Rigoletto, the story of a hunchback jester, his thirst of revenge, and his ultimate downfall. There was much to take in, from the plot, music, and cimbasso to the revolving stage and extravagant costumes.
But despite the fanfare and splendour, there were also some things to be pondered.
Protagonist or antagonist?
Amartuvshin Enkhat’s Rigoletto was a fine balance between victim and villain. The opening of the opera set the scene for Rigoletto’s struggle between pain and jest as the character reluctantly painted on his appearance. Ending the overture with the low rumbling of timpani was the forced smile of a jester.
Throughout the opera, the juxtaposition of Rigoletto’s character was between a sort of menacing jocularity; fear and the need to protect the only one he loved from the outside world, his daughter. This ultimately ended with Rigoletto going down a path of revenge. Enkhat brought the audience through the full range of emotions, ending poignantly with the realisation of his daughter’s fate.
The question stands on whether Rigoletto ended up the way he was due to his nature or because of his treatment.
The opera’s treatment of female characters
It is not a surprise that the opera’s treatment and development of female characters is poor. Rigoletto makes no exception to this: Gilda, Maddalena, and Countess Ceprano all fall for the playboy of the story and seem rather one dimensional in their approach – Yes, I know he has many other women, but he loves me.
Stacey Alleaume played the well-suited role of Gilda, the sheltered daughter of Rigoletto. Alleaume brought a sense of innocence and naivety to the part, and her representation of a first love felt spot on. Her love duet with the disguised Duke was light-hearted and joyful, even with the foresight that the situation was much darker than presented. Throughout the opera, Alleaume carried the youthful Gilda, who stubbornly did not want to learn about the true horror of what was around her. In spite of being lied to and manipulated by the Duke of Mantua and his cronies, Gilda still made the very questionable decision to sacrifice herself to spare the Duke’s life.
The apparent moral of the story
Liparit Avetisyan’s Duke of Mantua was charismatic and there was a confident sense of ease when he was on stage. This was especially apparent in the most famous of the opera’s aria La donna é mobile, as the Duke obliviously sang away while chaos unfolded below him. The last rendition of that aria saw the realisation of Rigoletto that his plot of revenge drastically backfired. In the end, the rich, powerful, handsome, and charismatic man did not lose out – no matter how repulsive of a person he is.
Images supplied. Credit: Jeff Busby.
