The Stage

The Gambler

Published Friday 12 February 2010 at 12:55 by George Hall

Premiered in 1929, Prokofiev’s opera based on Dostoyevsky’s novella about a rackety crew of Russians gambling at the tables of the fictional Roulettenberg comes to the Royal Opera House for the first time in a new staging by Richard Jones and sung in David Pountney’s English translation.

Roberto Sacca (Alexey Ivanovitch) and Angela Denoke (Paulina) in The Gambler at the Royal Opera House Photo: Tristram Kenton

Written in 1915-17 when the composer was in his enfant terrible phase - though due to the Russian Revolution, he had to wait more than a decade for the work’s first staging in the revised version presented here - The Gambler is a roller coaster of a piece, abrasive in texture and rhythmically driven from its boisterous start to its frenetic finish. Opportunities for lyricism are few in this tale of Alexei’s obsession with the fickle, unstable Polina, whose guardian, the General, is his employer. The General has bankrupted himself at the tables and hopes that the arrival of his elderly aunt will save his financial bacon. But she too gets the gambling bug and loses his much looked forward to inheritance. The result is a grotesque and surreal comedy, with no likeable characters but with plenty of energy and some memorable scenes.

It’s very much Richard Jones territory and his sharp-edged, satirical production to Weimar Republic designs by Antony McDonald and Nicky Gillibrand presents the ambience with poster paint brilliance. Antonio Pappano conducts a terrific account that balances the music’s brutalist vitality and momentum while allowing the voices to come through. Sterling performances from the large cast, with John Tomlinson’s bewildered General, Kurt Streit’s super-suave Marquis and Jurgita Adamonyte’s flouncy Blanche all exceptional.