By Kathryn Olsen
In Salt Lake City‘s Capitol Theater, Utah Opera is bringing live opera back to the stage this upcoming week. In the second of the one-act operas being featured in the program, Christopher Clayton and Brian Stucki play strangers who must survive a shipwreck while unable to communicate with each other. They graciously took some time to discuss the work and this production of Joseph Horovitz’s Gentleman’s Island
Kathryn: I understand that Gentleman’s Islandis based on poetry by William Schwenk Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan?
Christopher: Yes, he wrote a lot of poems and this one is a satire on English social conventions and how they are ridiculous.
Kathryn: I think that describes everything written by Gilbert. Can you give us some background on the opera itself, since he’s more commonly associated with Sir Arthur Sullivan and this may be one people are not as familiar with?
Christopher: Horovitz is considerably later—he was born in 1926 and is still alive—but the music is very different in sound quality. It’s an interesting kind of take. If you were to take one of Benjamin Britten‘s lighter works, such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream and combine it with the Gilbert and Sullivan angle, you’d be about there. The musical angle’s a little different, but it has a lighter feel and has some band hall-feeling moments. It’s definitely different than your standard G&S.
Kathryn: From what I understand of this depiction of English conventions, this opera has to do with two gentlemen who find themselves stranded on a desert island of some sort, who should not be speaking to each other.
Brian: They were on a ship together and never met; the ship ran into a coral reef and sank. They’re the only two survivors and, unfortunately, they’ve never been introduced to each other, so as proper Englishmen, you never speak to someone you’ve never been introduced to. They land on this island and each one is on one side of the island.
Christopher: I think they split up based on which side they dragged themselves up onto.
Brian: And they set up shop on this island and it doesn’t work out too well for them.
Christopher: There are two food sources on this island. One side has oysters, and the other, turtles. They both landed on the wrong side–each is on the side of whatever it is they can’t stand to eat and they can’t go to the other side because they can’t talk to each other. They’re both hungry, so they find themselves in a conundrum.
Kathryn: That is marvelous.
Kathryn: When I think of the source of this poetry, I think of Gilbert’s famous asides and information that is shared with the audience, but not the other member of the cast. I imagine that this is brought to the forefront with this sort of production. I assume that there is, eventually, some sort of reconciliation in which they are forced to put aside their proper British etiquette and actually interact with each other. Can you talk about the beginning of the opera and the change that will occur?
Brian: As you mentioned, there’s lots of opportunities for asides because, obviously, we’re not talking to each other. We’re sharing with the audience the nature of our plight and it so happens that, as Chris’ character, Mr. Summers, is lamenting to the audience the loss of his friends and wondering what became of them, he mentions one of his friends and I happen to be close enough to eavesdrop. I recognize the name and pop up and say that the name is familiar and maybe it’s the same person and if so, it’s my old chum from boarding school. So, while that is still a breach of etiquette, it’s a close enough connection that I can use the premise to introduce myself.
Christopher: This mutual friend will allow us to bridge that gap. As it happens later, there is something about this friend that leads to danger, but I don’t know how many spoilers you want.
Kathryn: I believe the spoiler in question is in the description of the play, so we will leave it to the audience to read the synopsis if they like. I’m curious, with both this action and lack of interaction, what was the rehearsal process like?
Christopher: For a lot of reasons, we have to maintain distance on the stage. We can’t come within ten feet of each other, which, at the beginning, is very easy because we’re on our separate sides of the island. When we come together, eventually, we still have to maintain that space, which I think people will find is kind of funny. In rehearsal, it’s kind of strange to sing with masks on and it’s different–
Brian: It’s very different when you can’t hear the articulation of the people you’re singing with and I think, sometimes, the director had to remind us not to drift towards each other and they would say, “You’re only nine feet apart!” It definitely changes the dynamic, but we’re getting used to it.
Kathryn: With the staging and blocking, how much of your personal interactions was inspired by your own choices and how much was directed by others?
Brian: The director’s always very careful, but she also allows our characters to go into that well of British propriety to justify some of that approach, but I think it will also become clear to the audience in a funny way that we are also adhering to COVID-19 restrictions. They had a way of blocking that out so it was intentional in a humorous way.
Christopher: Yes, with humorous little gags.
Don’t miss your chance to eavesdrop on this quirky comedy. Tickets are still available, so put down the oysters and hurry to purchase tickets.
Utah Opera Presents The Human Voice and Gentleman’s Island; By Francis Poulenc
Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre
50 West 200 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84101
October 9-18, 2020 7:30 PM, Matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 1 PM
Tickets: $20-$110
www.usuo.org
Utah Opera Facebook Page
The Human Voice and Gentleman’s Island Facebook Event
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