CARMEN. Director: Steven Stead. Conductor: Tim Murray. Choreographer: Naoline Quinzin. Cast: Nonhlanhla Yende, Lukhanyo Moyake, Vuvu Mpofu, Conroy Scott, Graham Bourne, Chorus and Children’s Chorus of Cape Town Opera, members of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. Photographs: Oscar O’Ryan. Artscape Opera House.
MEGAN CHORITZ reviews
Before the gorgeously scarlet lit Artscape opera theatre curtains went up, on opening night of Carmen, Cape Town Opera’s CEO, Alex Gabriel gave a little intro speech. One of the things he announced was the live broadcasting of the opening performance of Carmen on Fine Music Radio.
And I wish I had listened to the broadcast. The CPO’s music was sublime. The CPO’s singing was spectacular. Nonhlanhla Yende’s Carmen was vocally exquisite, as was all the company, including the children’s chorus.
But the production itself left a lot to be desired. I found it hard to watch.
A lot of moving around
The curtains opened on a strange collection of pieces making up the set. Director Steven Stead writes in his director’s note that he set the work in Spain somewhere between 1931 and 1936. There is an army barracks ‘building’ on the one side and a bar café on the other, with a bridge allowing for entrances and exits. Political graffiti is meant to denote the time and place. The set is very busy. Lots of stuff, earthy colour, faux stone walls, furniture, balustrades. And yet, the set pieces are weirdly incomplete. From where I was sitting in the audience, the back of the ‘barracks’ building ended in space. Then there was the ‘back wall’, literally the back screen of the stage, and the black wings on the side, all looking a little worse for wear. Once the set was populated by the cast they blended into the set in a jumble of muted colours, with little direct focus, and there were a lot of people on stage, all at once, doing a lot of moving around.
While the costumes are true to the style and time, and give off the feeling of Cuba, they are terribly unsexy and certainly don’t speak to the passion and sex of the people and place. Steven writes in his director’s note, “What makes Carmen the woman interesting to me, is not her sexuality, but her fierce courage and authenticity”, and this choice is evident in the general lack of sexuality and sensuality that I have always connected with in the story of Carmen. Nonhlanhla Yende is so utterly sexy despite her costumes, but she remains unmatched by the men, who are all either jealous narcissists or abusers.
Traditional choices
Steven has made very traditional choices in the staging. The chorus is huge. The opening act is full of bodies, with soldiers, the women from the cigarette factory, the people at the café and a horde of children (with strong political opinions). There is the attempt to create the traffic and bustle of a busy town square in Seville. But the movement seemed strangely old fashioned, and there was the unbearable ‘people pretending to talk’, even moving their mouths, but silently, while singing happened elsewhere. It is so awkward.
The second act, in a tavern, opens with some cool dancing, choreographed by Naoline Quinzin. I wished that some of that spice had been infused elsewhere in the production.
In the third act, that takes place in ‘a wild mountain pass, by night’, the smugglers wander around, with hessian covered bales and army bags, in a pointless figure eight of stage movement, also talking without sound, and showing that they are tired with huge stage yawns.
While Steven describes the world of the people of the piece as characters who lead hard, violent lives, “They are poor. They exist on a knife’s edge.” He does little to infuse that violence, that urgency, that desperation into the performance. When it does happen, is when Carmen sings, when the chorus of women sing. When the tragedy and desperation, the defiance and passion explode out of the voices, the lyrics, the music.
I agree that these characters are a product of their time, and it is a rare gift to see an opera that deals with poor people, the working class, the soldiers that suffer the whims of the politicians, and those that live lives of desperate poverty and hopelessness. This is something that we as South Africans should relate to with such deep feeling and understanding. But their feelings, desires, hopes and dreams, are as important as their circumstances. I wanted more of that.
What: Cape Town Opera Carmen review
Where and when: Artscape Opera House on 19, 21, 27 and 29 May 2026 at 7pm | matinees on 23 and 31 May 2026 at 2pm
Tickets: Artscape on 021 421 7695 and Webtickets
WS
