With The Trial of the Cannibal Dog the international festival presented us with the most important, relevant and engaging opera of the New Zealand opera repertoire.

Based on Dame Anne Salmond’s book, it is a tale of cultural clash and adaptation, the impacts of which rippled across the globe and down to the present day. The work straddles myth and history, weaving together individual and collective cultural memories.

The music by Mathew Suttor is a fine piece of minimalist writing, which owes much to John Adams just as the work itself brings together the themes of Adams’ two major works The Death of Klinghoffer and Nixon in China. The music contains elements of elegant 18th century music and jazz rhythms as well as the drama of the contemporary and includes Māori instruments to marvellous effect.

The action of the opera is bookended by a contemporary medical operation involving Cook so there is a sense this adventure is a also an intervention to change the heart and the memory of what happened and what it means to us today.

The multi-layered rich libretto is occasionally a bit too dense, saved only by the use of surtitles.

Janet Roddick as Mrs Cook gave a finely articulated delivery tinged with love and regret and she was paired often with Deborah Wai Kapohe who gave a riveting performance as the Pacific Island Queen.

Andrew Collis gave an effortless performance, eloquently depicting the flawed, heroic Cook.

Director Christian Penny’s team of Penny Fitt (set design), Kate Hawley (costume), David Eversfield (lighting) and Konrad Kaczmarek (sound) provided an environment worthy of this intelligent and sophisticated production.
 

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If New Zealanders were not such a mild-mannered, respectful lot, there might have been some audience vociferation during the first performance of Matthew Suttor and John Downie’s The Trial of the Cannibal Dog.

There were certainly empty seats after the opera’s mystifying first half and, come the next day, Radio New Zealand’s Eva Radich and Paul Bushnell were vehement on air in their condemnation of the work. [More]

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More than a few pun-like expressions spring to mind (eg: "trying" and "a dog’s breakfast") as the final scene of Trial of the Cannibal Dog draws to a close.

Though the opera itself is not what I would call a resounding triumph, nonetheless it has moments of fascinating ingenuity, and the execution of the work by the performers is highly commendable. The cast and crew and musicians do a sterling job, working with the jumbled and somewhat incongruous libretto by John Downie and a sometimes uneasy and inconsistent musical scoring by composer Matthew Suttor.

In the libretto there are definitely moments of intellectual cleverness, as well as some earthy wit (though even for this enjoyer of a good rude joke, some of the toilet-humour is a tad too obvious), but overall it left me perplexed and dissatisfied as a listener.

I have to confess to not having read Anne Salmond’s book (on which the libretto is based), but I wonder how faithful this adaptation is to the original, and to history itself. An attempt is made, at the end of the show, to bring relevance of the story and nearly-250-year-old inter-cultural relationships into today’s world – we are the living history of this place – but for me this modern epilogue was too much of a sudden jump forward, rather than a natural flow from preceding events.

Of the music itself, I enjoyed the instrumental writing more than the vocal: the sung lines are often pitched awkwardly for the lower voices, making projection at times difficult, and the monotonous repetition of one particular ‘quadratonic’ phrase towards the end of the opera (with too many unaccented syllables ending up on the highest note) lingers in the memory for the wrong reasons.

That said, much of the instrumental writing is very accomplished and rhythmically interesting, creating apt atmosphere, and the duet between the Tahitian Queen and Cook’s wife is an example of very good operatic writing, allowing the sensational voices of Deborah Wai Kapohe and Janet Roddick to shine.

Vocal highlights for me included the thrilling waiata and karanga interjections from Mere Tokorahi Boynton (consistently sincere and energetic in her delivery) and the evocative koauau-like falling minor thirds sung beautifully by the Queen (Wai Kapohe) at Cook’s death. The chorus of Shipdogs and Seadogs (Nigel Collins – his robust and accurate tenor voice of particular note, Brendan Casey, Hadleigh Adams, Nick Dunbar; and Mere Boynton with Teina Moetara) give strong performances, powerful and agile in voice and movement throughout.

The Captain himself (Andrew Collis) becomes more convincing as the opera progresses – perhaps first-night nerves could account for his slightly flat (in musical and theatrical terms) opening lines? – and his interactions with the Chief (sung with full integrity by Phillip Rhodes) were interesting food for thought. 

The integration of taonga puoro and other Māori musical aspects in the opera (including the ‘Moteatea’ composed by Teina Moetara) are a definite plus: these indigenous sounds often seem to have direct visceral impact on, and significance for, all New Zealanders, no matter what their cultural background or bent. 

A lot of energy and drive from a lot of people has gone into every part of this opera, and the production and creative team have much to be proud of.

Penny Fitt’s set design is very clever, using stretchy angled slats to represent a navigation chart, a ship’s ‘ribs’ (and a dog’s, perhaps) and provide a base on which to project various images (all expertly realised by lighting designer David Eversfield). Kate Hawley’s costume design is a successful mix of conventional and quirky.

Peter Scholes does an excellent job of conducting the small but highly professional orchestral ensemble and cast of singers through what sounds to be a very demanding score; and Christian Penny’s overall direction is inventive and visually cohesive.

The thing that lets the show down, however, is its libretto – and unfortunately, that is one of its most integral components! If someone threw the dog a different bone – one that’s less dense and convoluted, more accessible and directly palatable to the general populace, whom of course any staged show, musical or otherwise, should be designed to communicate and entertain – perhaps this opera could reach its full potential as an informative and thought-provoking work of artistry.
 

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In Anne Salmond’s book, tracing all three of Cook’s Pacific journeys, there is a central point where, in returning to Grass Cove, the scene of the massacre and eating of 10 of the Adventure’s men in 1773, Cook had surprised both his own men and the local Māori, by exacting no retribution.

He lost mana from both and, indeed, the midshipmen and masters mates held a mock trial of a Māori dog (kuri). The dog was convicted of cannibalism, sentenced, executed and eaten. Perfect material, you might say, for dramatic treatment, but how would it fare as an opera? Well, I must say the result is distinctly mixed. [More]
 

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