Mary Motorhead/Trade at Malthouse Theatre;
OPERA
Mary Motorhead/Trade ★★★★
Malthouse Theatre, until March 13
The morning of the Australian premiere Mary Motorhead/TradOpera singers around the world woke up to an unexpected diss from one of Hollywood’s biggest names.
In a conversation with fellow actor Matthew McConaughey, Timothée Chalamet said, “He said he doesn’t want to work on a ballet or an opera where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive even though no one cares anymore.'” Watch out for horned helmets; opera singers and troupes swayed onto the stage, and thousands of posts and videos filled social media showing houses filled with protests condemning Chalamet’s comments.
This Irish double bill from composer Emma O’Halloran is as far away from the powdered wigs and screaming sopranos of Chalamet’s dreams as it gets.
engine head It’s a 30-minute, one-woman show set in Mountjoy Prison, which Dubliners derisively call “Joy”. Here we hear the sad story of a young woman about how she stabbed her boyfriend in the head. Trade It focuses on the commercial relationship between the Old Man and the Young Man, who meet for sex in a run-down hotel room. Both operas were originally performed by the composer’s uncle, Mark O’Halloran.
Between the subject matter, the intimacy of the performers, and the amplified chamber music ensemble (electronics included), the intensity never lets up. There is no attempt at levity, with each character going through a deeply disturbing past and reaching the peak of explosive anger or acute pain.
The Australian Contemporary Opera Company has assembled a trio of all-Australian singers for each of these extremely difficult, Irish-accented roles. It was a difficult word to understand, with its distinctive wide and thin vowels, and was generally inconsistent.
Emily Edmonds helms the role of the deranged Mary. The climactic moment, when she screams that she’s “cut him in half,” is viscerally felt. Despite Mary’s implacable anger, Edmonds’ beautiful, shapely and colorful mezzo still shined through the wild outbursts.
Tenor Callum McGing as the Young Man has a lot of one-liners, but makes the most of the brilliant countertenor-like quality he has when he gets the opportunity. His insecurity and resentment were completely believable.
Veteran baritone Christopher Hillier gives the performance of his career as the Old Man. This is a singer with supreme command of her voice; sometimes cold and dark, then at others it evokes a bright melancholy or hopeless fragility. The scene unfolds in an extremely unnerving way; When it was finally over, Hillier was visibly exhausted. It was tiring just watching.
Irish conductor Elaine Kelly has premiered these works on three continents, and her expert hand seamlessly weaves techno with chamber orchestra, including saxophone and electric guitar. O’Halloran’s score is a coup for contemporary opera.
Mozart might not be for our aforementioned motor-mouthed actor, maybe someone can convince him to give it a try Mary Motorhead in its place.
Reviewed by Bridget Davies
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