The Stage

Hercules

Published Friday 17 March 2006 at 12:50 by George Hall

The Barbican brings Luc Bondy’s acclaimed production of Handel’s 1745 musical drama, originally seen at the Aix Festival, to London. It’s well worth it.

Though one can argue whether the piece is an opera or an oratorio - Handel presented it in concert, though it is a full dramatic retelling of the last days of the mythical Greek hero - it certainly feels like an opera when presented as vividly as this.

Hercules has conquered an enemy city and brings back a captive princess - the beautiful Iole. But Hercules’s wife Dejanira is furiously jealous, though she supposedly reconciles with her husband by sending him a gift of a cloak. It turns out to be poisoned and Hercules dies in agony. Dejanira, struck by remorse, goes mad. While the gods grant the dead Hercules divine status, his son Hyllus and Iole are left to continue as the new rulers.

It’s a sombre tale that allows Handel to demonstrate his psychological perception in music of unusual power. Highlights include Hercules’s death scene and Dejanira’s mad scene. William Shimell and Joyce DiDonato take full advantage of their possibilities, though DiDonato’s departures from Handel’s notes are excessive. Ed Lyon delivers a lyrical Hyllus.

William Christie conducts a spirited performance with the choral and orchestral forces of Les Arts Florissants on top form.

On the first night, Hanna Bayodi gamely sang Iole from the pit while an indisposed Ingela Bohlin mimed on stage.