‘Cabildo, cabildo – what does it mean?” ask the characters a minute or two into Amy Beach’s eponymous 1932 chamber opera. The artfully heaped bric-a-brac – a red life-ring, a US flag, a broken TV, a Madonna adorned with a long pearl necklace – serving as the set at the Arcola doesn’t give much away. But Grimeborn, now one of the UK’s most established fringe opera festivals, has finessed the art of producing surprises on a shoestring budget. The gnomic stage decor aside, Beach’s only opera – short but hardly ever performed – is a real discovery.
Nan Bagby Stephens’s libretto is set in the present day and 1812 New Orleans. A group of disaffected tourists visit the prison in the Spanish governor’s palace (the cabildo), led by the Barker, who tells them about its most famous inmate: the “gentleman pirate” Pierre Lafitte. The tour moves on but one woman, Mary, lingers, falls asleep and dreams about Lafitte’s escape.
The story-within-a-story structure isn’t subtle, but the text is a compelling mix of folksiness and melodrama. Beach’s score is a constantly shifting palette of colours, an accompanying piano trio providing real-time responses to on-stage action (think Puccini) but within a soundworld dominated by Brahms, folk music and post-Wagnerian harmony. Musical director John Warner revelled in the drama of the ferociously difficult piano part, wrestling huge, Tristan-esque climaxes from the Arcola’s upright. Hattie Haynes on violin and Saran Davies on cello provided sensitive, if sometimes understated support.
Beru Tessema was compelling as the Barker (a spoken role), exhorting his group to “Read your guidebooks” with fine comic timing. Much of the singing was also excellent. Helen Stanley (Mary) and Joseph Buckmaster (Tom) were persuasive as redneck newlyweds (oversized earrings for her; denim and Trump 2020 cap for him). Baritone James Quilligan clearly enjoyed himself as the intoxicated Gaoler and Alexander Gebhard’s light tenor Dominique was sweetly earnest, though Alistair Sutherland’s Pierre Lafitte often sounded forced. As Lafitte’s paramour, Lady Valerie, Alys Roberts was captivating. Her soprano was sweet and warm, relishing the length of the opera’s most grateful melodic lines – and it showcased Beach’s exceptional qualities as a song composer.
• Grimeborn is at the Arcola, London, until 7 September.
