I have only good things to say about this show. With absolute commitment and conviction on all counts, Good Angel, Bad Angel fulfills NIMBY Opera company’s goals: to present professional, accessible and innovative short opera works to the New Zealand public; to create work opportunities for the top and up-and-coming opera talent in Wellington; to provide a different artistic experience to the general public from the traditional ‘Grand Opera’ one; and to support and promote the work of New Zealand composers.

Its perfect combination of elements – music, libretto, performers, production and venue – gives the audience an experience every bit as satisfying as some of the best international acts have to offer.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s short story, ‘Markheim’, was an excellent choice for this sort of operatic adaptation. With only four main characters – an elderly jeweller, his daughter, the petty thief named Markheim and the ‘Visitant’) – the stark, conscience-searching plot lends itself to the kind of intimate setting afforded by the Gryphon theatre. Here, with singers only metres away from the front rows of seats, every nuance of facial expression and body movement is visible and immediate, and the audience can be involved and moved in a way that is not possible with larger scale works in larger venues.

The music of Lyell Cresswell is also ideal for the story and context. Right from the opening staccato strikes of the violin bow, depicting a ticking clock or a heartbeat, to the piercing scream of the clarinet at the point of death of the shopkeeper, the sounds we hear are all entirely in keeping with the emotional goings-on on stage. Like a good film score it both reflects and enhances the visual and vocal content, allowing the performance to flow with uninterrupted cohesion.

Conductor Justus Rozemond leads the small instrumental ensemble with precision and finesse: the players (Sayuri Ando, violin; Helen Bevin, viola; Paul Mitchell, cello; Tui Clarke, clarinets) are excellent together, and each features individually to great effect at times too.

Ron Butlin’s libretto is subtle yet lucid; economical, but not sparse; has substance, yet delivers its message in an accessible manner, in a relatively short space of time. Even the ambiguity of the ending is satisfying, leaving just enough room for private interpretation and contemplation, but not frustrating or confusing one in the process.

The delivery from the singers, obviously expertly directed by David Lawrence and well-prepared for their roles with the assistance of repetiteur pianist Catherine Norton, is exemplary throughout. All three of them – Craig Beardsworth as the troubled, conscience-stricken thief-turned-murderer, Markheim; Hadleigh Adams as the Shopkeeper and later as the Visitant; Frances Moore as the Daughter; and Adams and Moore in cameo roles as drunken revelers – sing and act with a level of professionalism and understanding that belies their youth.

As a team, and aided and complemented by the well-paced music, they keep the ball in the air and our attention riveted, from beginning to end.

Craig Beardsworth brings vulnerability and passion to his role. Even before he sings, he draws us into the trepidation of the thief’s mind with his audible breaths of fear and indecision and, as the tension builds, he portrays the character’s gamut of emotions utterly convincingly with his beautifully resonant baritone voice and tortured facial expressions.

Hadleigh Adams impresses with his cocky, confident, wry and sinister Visitant, at once conveying humour and a sense of foreboding, with excellent characterization in his rich, deep singing and spoken voice.

Frances Moore brings both strength and sensitivity to the role of the Daughter too. She is particularly dramatic in her pleading that Markheim should not kill her; and draws is in completely in the grieving scene, integrating the sobbing intakes of breath seamlessly into her clear, passionate singing.

The scene where drunken revellers (swooningly sung by Moore and Adams) are heard outside the shop is clever: somehow the humour and carefree carry-on makes the impending darkness all the more ominous and ironic … This diversion, as with other moments in the opera, shows the true essence of the story well – rather like in a good old Hitchcock thriller – building suspense, juxtaposing the viewpoints, presenting the dichotomy, yet never quite giving the full resolution… Excellent stuff.

My only tiny gripe is that the director should have appeared on stage at the end of the opening night.

This new work [which premiered in Edinburgh in May 2005] is a must-see show. If excellently crafted and performed intimate chamber opera is your thing (or even if it isn’t), I highly recommend that you get to one of the remaining performances in Wellington, or (if you live further north) in Palmerston North or Auckland.   
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