Julie

Published Monday 5 November 2007 at 11:05 by George Hall

Born in 1936 and the composer of several operas, the Belgian Philippe Boesmans has won increasing success on the continent, but his work is little known here.

For that reason alone, Music Theatre Wales’s production of Boesmans’ operatic version of Strindberg’s play is welcome.

The score is effective. Scored for a chamber ensemble, it shows influences from the Second Viennese School, but also has strong tonal leanings. It is varied, immediate, punchy, and waywardly lyrical, matching the text with imagination. We should hear more of its composer.

Michael Rafferty conducts the excellent 18-piece ensemble with alacrity, but Michael McCarthy’s staging is not so effective. On the first night, an indisposed Arlene Rolph may have been hampered by illness from suggesting the edgy, complex character of Miss Julie, and failed to rise in class above Andrew Rupp’s fatally amiable Jean. Not only is the class element in the scenario crucial, but equally a strong attraction between the two principals that scarcely registers here. Jean’s raw sexual charisma is missing. Nor does his fellow servant and fiancee Christine emerge with sufficient definition in the hands of Emma Gane.

Simon Banham’s lean set is functional but weak on period. The device of having the orchestra placed highly visibly at the back of the stage is not to the work’s advantage. But, in spite of weaknesses in the execution, the piece itself is well worth encountering as it tours England and Wales over the next month.