Philip Glass’s extraordinary, monumental yet minimalist masterpiece, directed by Phelim McDermott and conducted by Karen Kamensek, is one of English National Opera’s outstanding productions. It’s great to see and hear it again. The sound is overwhelming.
Tom Pye is the set and projection designer. Kevin Pollard is the costume designer. Bruno Poet is the lighting designer. The visual impact is stunning.
Akhnaten is music theatre rather than opera; and music theatre as ritual rather than as dramatic narrative. It’s a choral composition in which the singers spend as much time miming as singing.
The opera is a series of amazing and richly costumed religious rituals – funeral, coronation, marriage – acted out in riveting ultra-slow motion. There is no story-line as such, nor characterisation. A scribe (Zachary James, a powerful presence) narrates.
Akhnaten, (father or half-brother to Tutankhamun) ruled Egypt around CBE1351-1334. Nearly a thousand years before the Christian era, he renounced the multiple gods and introduced a monotheistic worship of the Sun.
Never afraid to show his feminine side, the vulnerable Akhnaten parades his deformed body for the benefit of priests and subjects. Counter tenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, shaven headed, no body hair, initially completely nude and then wearing close-clinging clothes, is hypnotic, vocally and physically. It’s a terrific performance. A high spot is his hymn to Aten, the bisexual Sun god, which is sung in English. His mimed death is a striking moment.
Akhnaten and his wife, Nefertiti (Chrystal E Williams), and his mother, Queen Tye (Haegee Lee), look as if they have stepped off the walls in the tombs of the pharaohs in the Valley of the Kings in Ancient Egypt.
The opening chord (which seemed as if it might continue all night) is mesmerising. The third act brutal confrontation with the high priests of The Temple of Amun, who rouse a mob to kill Akhnaten, is chorally phenomenal and dramatically exciting.
A notable feature of the production is the spectacle provided by Improbable Theatre Company and the Gandani Juggling Company. The ten jugglers are also initially seen as if they were an Egyptian frieze, sideways on. They juggle three balls individually in synchronised unison and between each other and they never drop any. Later they juggle, first with skittles and then with balloons.
ENO’s Akhnaten is a memorable theatrical experience and not to be missed.
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