Innocence

Innocence is the ‘big ticket’ item of the Festival and for a very good reason. It has had sell-out seasons at the likes of Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, London’s Royal Opera House and San Francisco Opera. No small recommendations!

It is a spectacle. A huge two storey set that revolves and a confronting story of bullying, murder and truth. It asks the question, “Who is actually innocent?”

The story is deceptively simple - the opera takes place across two timelines - a wedding in Helsinki in the 2000s; a waitress, Tereza, recognizes the groom as the brother of the gunman who killed her child in the school shooting 10 years earlier. The joyous wedding celebration takes a shocking turn when the darkest of secrets is revealed and a young bride faces an impossible decision. The opera also reveals how the tragedy has impacted the lives of the victims and those who influenced the deed.

Innocence reveals the emotional journey experienced by a tight community of students, teachers and families recovering from an unbelievable tragedy. Relationships are tested and ghosts of the past resurface as the community strive to heal.

It is Kaija Saariaho’s final opera, and one of the grittiest, and is extremely pertinent in today’s society littered with bullying, violence and scamming.

Her amazing score, rich in complex orchestral textures, is complemented by a multi-layered Finnish libretto by novelist Sofi Oksanen and a multilingual libretto by Aleksi Barrière.

Director Simon Stone uses Chloe Lamford’s amazing two storey set as a chess board of sorts and has achieved a miracle of staging with action on multi levels always highlighting the underlying anguish of the character’s lives. It is a wonder to watch. As the set revolves, the unseen side of the set is redressed to become another location.

Innocence has a complex score, with many layers and textures. Under the baton of Clement Mao-Takacs the Adelaide Symphony orchestra excels, never overwhelming the singing but still a presence in their own right. The State Opera Chorus are heard, but never seen. They are the voice of comment.

The set is one of the stars of the opera – particularly the working kitchen with cooktops that light up, running water and refrigeration. By the end of the opera, we are left with empty rooms highlighting the isolation of the characters.

To the set add Mel Page’s costumes, James Farncombe’s atmospheric lighting of the set and within the set and Timo Kurkikangas’s sound design and you have the perfect production.

The structure of the opera, performed without interval, is interesting. There’s as much speaking as singing. The surviving students, reflecting on how the incident has shaped their lives, come from an international school and speak several different languages.

The operatic voices also change accent to reflect how this horrific incident can happen anywhere. Innocence is performed in nine different languages including English, Finnish, Czech, Romanian, French, Swedish, German, Spanish, and Greek; with characters primarily communicating with each other in English while singing in their native language for personal thoughts.

The cast is comprised of students and adults. The students,  (Markéta) Erika Hammarberg, (Lilly) Christina AF Klinteberg Herresthal, (Iris) Julie Hega, (Anton) Rowan Kievits, (Jerónimo) Camilo Delgado Díaz and (Alexia) Marina Dumont all give compelling performances, often covered with blood.

The student cast is complemented with actors – Issy Commber, Laura Henderson, Nicholas Cannon, Liam Goodes, Nicky Tsz Ting Li, Rhys Stewart, Jacinda Tsakalos and Ollie Xu.

The adults - (Tereza) Jenny Carlstedt, (Patricia) Claire de Sévigné, (Henrik) Tuomas Pursio, (Stela) Faustine de Monès, (Tuomas) Sean Panikkar, the Priest Teddy Tahu Rhodes and the Teacher (Cecilia) Lucy Shelton carry the weight of the narrative.

While all the cast give impressive performances, the stand outs for me are Erika Hammarberg’s Finnish operatic style, not often heard in Australia, Jenny Carlstedt’s heartbreaking performance as the mother who cannot forget or forgive, Sean Panikkar’s incredible range as the father, Lucy Sheldon’s teacher who abandons her career after the trauma of the killing, and Teddy Tahu Rhodes’ deep resonant voice as the Priest who endeavours to be the peacemaker but questions his own faith.

What makes this opera compelling viewing is the fusion of the visual and aural elements. They work together in perfect harmony to form an experience which is as visceral and it is challenging. We really feel the character’s emotions and are drawn into their world. The sight of dead bloodied bodies littering the stage is hard to watch, but impossible to ignore.

At the end of the performance the entire cast and crew take a bow. It is only then one realises that ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. It is an immense ensemble effort!

Innocence is an important opera which is as resonant today as it was in 2018. With mass shootings in the USA almost every day and bullying in schools throughout the world, it is a timely reminder of the lasting damage verbal of physical violence can inflict.

It is an incredible piece of theatre and deserving of a season of full houses!

Barry Hill OAM

Images by Andrew Beveridge

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