★★★✰✰
Puccini’s unfinished opera Turandot has resided in controversy since it was written, and was banned in China for the better part of the 20th century. Set in China, the opera has recently come under fire in the UK for “whitewashing”, the majority of lead roles given to non-East Asian vocalists.
Offering an all-Asian cast, and a production team with a majority of East Asian creatives, Arcola’s Turandot, directed by dramaturgical team Becca Marriott and Iskandar Sharazuddin, offers a strong opposing point of view. Originally set in Imperial China, Puccini’s production was centred on the passionate love affair between his male lead Calaf (James Liu), and the titular character of Turandot (Reiko Fukuda). The Arcola’s version presents a highly stylised production, set deep into the future into a digital dystopia, taking a three hour opera (with intervals) to a 90 minute straight run. This new production keeps the main points of the original story intact, with Imperial princess Turandot presenting three riddles or death for any suitor vying for her hand in marriage. Where once she was the most beautiful woman in China, Turandot is now presented as a digital projection, the prize in a VR video game.
With set made up of merely two platforms and a movable, dynamic projection screen depicting video designs of a futuristic city, as well as costumes consisting of cult-like white shirts and white masks, there is little for the actors to fall back on. Certainly the composition of Puccini’s opera offers an innate depth of emotion, and the cast sings beautifully. Heming Li as Liu was particularly fantastic, her voice standing out amongst a cast 25 strong, providing much of the needed emotional nuance.
The costumes, while conceptually strong, lack gravitas and conviction in their realisation, with Turandot’s costume in particular struggling. The masks are an excellent opposition to the opera’s controversial past, but feel visually weak. This, combined with the small space and the banality of some of the costumes based in the “real world”, leaves the audience really feeling the budget limitations. There were further issues with the subtitles following along with the singing, something that occasionally reinforces the themes of digital dystopia, but mostly just jolts the viewer out of the action. Where the production intends to offer a nuanced concept of technological tragedy, the rushed ending means that the narrative structure does not fully complete itself, and the depth of the emotion we are prompted to feel ultimately feels empty. The themes of life and death and love of the original script are undermined without a true alternative.
With all that said, the talent of the cast radiates off the stage. The singing, accompanied by Panaretos Kyriastzidis and Thomas Ang on piano, is very strong. The all-Asian cast is certainly a thought-provoking choice, especially amongst the recent controversy. Unfortunately, while the concept is intriguing, it is poorly realised, and the play is punctuated by its poor design choices.
Turandot will be performed at Arcola Theatre until 26 August as part of Grimeborn Opera Festival.
Words by Buse Tobin
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