SPARK

© Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. Photo: Richard Hubert Smith 

Spark is magnificent! For years now I have been going along to see the work of Glyndebourne Youth Opera, and I have never been disappointed by the work that they do. In fact my only disappointment has been that, as a young person, I did not have access to anything like this, cubs, scouts, boys brigade and a school play, that was about it. Different times and a different location, I only hope that kids across the UK have access to something as special as this today, even if not on the grand scale offered by Glyndebourne, anything has to be better than a gang show, a crumby farce and bit of Robert Bolt.

This season’s youth production is a new commission, a two act opera written by Lucy Armstrong with a libretto by Olivia Bell, and it’s a gem. There is a real sense that the piece is genuinely collaborative, the two elements are so cohesive, story and music working seamlessly. Bell’s story so well crafted, at times humorous and full of joy, at others dark and scary and ultimately so very moving. I admit to being brought to tears at the end, not from sadness but from something far deeper, far more moving.

© Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. Photo: Richard Hubert Smith

Armstrong’s score is magical, at moments wistful, at times exacting and then shifting into a mood that might not be out of place in musical theatre. Think Benjamin Britten charged with writing Mary Poppins, but delving deeper into the weirdness of those books, the places Disney dared not go.

None of that is meant to detract from the quality of the writing, but there is something delightful about leaving the theatre humming a tune that you have only heard once, and there are tunes in this that will live on. I am sure that I will hear “One Less Plate At The Table” again, and it’s not the only song, these are songs that have the potential to live on both within and outside this opera.

© Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. Photo: Richard Hubert Smith

The Youth Opera is a remarkable entity from teenies to teens, I gave up trying to count how many bodies were on that stage but each and every one gave it their very all. Not a step or a note out of place in a complex production. Ryan Dawson Laight’s setting is so effectively layered and Howard Hudson’s lighting is magical. Róisin Whelan works wonders directing the movement, hoards of kids swarming the stage in elegant chaos, no mean feat for sure.

At the helm director Fiona Dunn has done a superb job, how anyone can take charge of a cast this big and make it work defies belief, but she does. At the same time she has control of that balance between the reality and the magical rooftop world into which Clara and Frankie are drawn.

© Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. Photo: Richard Hubert Smith

Surrounded by real children Clementine Thompson’s Clara is convincingly childlike and that is underpinned by the purity of her voice and the quality of her acting. Rachel Howe’s Frankie is equally well delivered and her voice displays the confidence of the friend.

Holly Brown is wonderful as Clara’s grieving mum, a real fragility to her performance and as Flicker there is real vibrance. Hugo Herman-Wilson is very real as the father, lost in grief as his world crumbles around him. He is equally impressively sad as Ember, lost in an underworld.

© Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. Photo: Richard Hubert Smith

In the rooftop magical world Blaze is the matron of the massed sparks, a role performed by Ella Taylor with a sense of motherly purpose and confidence and with a voice totally suited to the part.

Natasha Oldbury plays Ash, a lost boy who invites Clara into his magical world and eventually we learn why, no spoilers here, save to say that this is a wonderful role played wonderfully well.

As ever The Glyndebourne Sinfonia are on top form and conductor Ashley Beauchamp is in confident control.

This a story of loss and bereavement handled with a gentle and caring touch, a message that could sos easily become darkly leaden, but not here, here is a work that could bring hope and light to grieving families across the world.

It’s a superb collection of world class soloists but the evening must go to those kids who make the whole so very, very special. I pray that this has a great future and hope that they have made a recording on video so I can enjoy it again and again.

Andrew Kay

15 November

Glyndebourne

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