Satyagraha

This autumn, the English National Opera (ENO) revives its hugely successful Satyagraha, a contemporary opera by Philip Glass which broke box office records back in 2007 and was critically acclaimed as a theatrical masterpiece.

Satyagraha is the second of Glass’s trilogy of operas about men who changed the world, and looks at Mahatma Gandhi’s early years in South Africa. It follows his development of non-violent protests as a political tool and depicts different important stages of Gandhi’s life and work. Performed in Sanskrit, and combined with Glass’s sensitive score, it paints an almost hypnotic sound-image of one of the most important men in modern history.

Satyagraha is visually one of the most extraordinary productions I have ever seen: Julian Crouch’s set design is nothing less than awe-inspiring. Featuring huge puppets, devised pieces and aerialists, it is a production that sets sail to seduce your eyes in a visual experience of the story. Using newspapers as a key element of the design, creatures are brought to life and torn apart: the set morphs into new images and the audience is visually beguiled by the seemingly millions of incredible ideas pouring out of Crouch’s brain and into the life of the set.

Phelim McDermott’s direction is equally as focused and delicate, and it’s clear he has an eye for aesthetics. Chorus scenes are enchanting to look at – the on-stage presence is captivating and some powerful images emerge as the cast send their lights flying up in the air, or leave their shoes in one long row front stage.

Musically it’s more of a musical image than a story-based score. It doesn’t feel very progressive and with all the wonders going on set-wise, it feels like the music is just an accompaniment to a very interesting devised piece. That said, the cast is very talented and Alan Oke’s Gandhi is sung beautifully and with a lot of soul. Acting-wise, the performers lack spontaneity: by working in slow motion throughout most of the performance, they resemble more of a dance troupe than characters full of variety, with different tempos and energies. As with the music, they feel more like an abstract picture feeding into the visual story, rather than characters with intensive inner lives.

Lasting about three and a half hours, this performance is very long without subtitles. Some of the images and devised aspects are prolonged and ask a lot of patience from the audience. Not knowing what is being sung, it is a huge help if you know the life and works of Gandhi to make more sense of this long, visual feast. However, as a whole the piece hypnotises and wakens you at the same time: it is full of integrity and feeling, and will blow your mind with its playful imagery and powerful, thought-provoking design. If you like to be visually stunned, then Satyagraha is definitely for you.

Satyagraha is playing at the London Coliseum until 8 December. For more information and tickets, see the English National Opera website. (c) Donald Cooper.