Peter and the Wolf

Miriam Margolyes and orchestral music, or more specifically glorious Adelaide Symphony Orchestra music, is a magical blending that provided a delightful feast for the imagination on the opening night of Peter and the Wolf.

The performance was presented in four sections:

The Cunning Little Vixen Suite - Leos Janacek

The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra - Benjamin Britten

Polovtsian Dances, from Prince Igor - Alexander Borodin

Peter and the Wolf - Sergei Prokofiev

Narrator Miriam Margolyes walked onto the stage to loud and warm applause. In return she gave us the whimsical magic of her rich voice, perfect diction, wry humour and wickedly expressive face, punctuating the wonderful music with her narration.

Nursing her storybook, Margolyes sat in an armchair lit by a quirky standard lamp, the stand adorned with antlers. Evocative black silhouettes of forest trees, a wolf and other characters from Peter and the Wolf circled the lamp’s white shade.

This superb raconteur and actor, together with the world class Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, had everyone absorbed as we heard and imagined the sounds of a forest during The Cunning Little Vixen Suite.

This was followed by an entrancing journey of discovery, as the woodwind, brass, string and percussion sections of the orchestra were introduced and then the sections refined to demonstrate individual instruments, through Benjamin Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.

Here, brilliant young conductor Nicholas Carter did a fine job of not only conducting the orchestra but also cueing Miriam Margolyes for the frequent entrance of her narration into the flow of the work. The audience, young and old, were totally immersed.

The 80-strong orchestra was sublime in its playing of Polovtsian Dances and finally, everything came together in Peter and the Wolf, with Margolyes’ delightful humour shining through the storytelling. Once again, the conductor worked exquisitely with Margolyes to insert the narration. Many of the instruments to which we’d been introduced came into their own as representations of the narrative’s individual characters.

What a pity that when this review is published, the two day Adelaide Festival season of Peter and the Wolf will have already passed. The production will be remembered by its audiences as a memorable hour and a half and exactly what can make The Arts a fresh and thrilling experience.

Lesley Reed

Photographer: Shane Reid