Innocence by Kaija Saariaho. Original Finnish Libretto by Sofi Oksanen and Multilingual Libretto by Aleksi Barriere.
Conducted by Clement Mao Takacs. Directed by Simon Stone. Set design
Chloe Lamford. Costume designer Mel Page. Lighting designer James Farncombe.
Sound designer Timo Kurkikangas. Assistant director Sybille Wilson.
Choreographer Arco Renz. Adelaide Chamber singers and State Opera Chorus.
Chorus Master Christie Anderson.Presented by Adelaide Festival in association
with State Opera South Australia. A co-commission and a co-production of
Festival Aix-en-Provence, San Francisco Opera, Dutch National Opera Amsterdam,
Royal Opera House Covent Garden London, Finnish National Opera and Ballet
Helsinki. In partnership with the Metropolitan Opera. Festival Theatre Adelaide
Festival Centre. February 28 – March 5 2025.
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
Innocence is a work of
extraordinary stature. Composer Kaija Saariaho and librettists Sofi Oksaanen
and Aleksi Barriere have created a contemporary opera of enormous resonance and
relevance to our time. From the foreboding sounds of the overture the audience
is drawn into the tragic account of the consequences of a shooting at an
international school.. Ten years earlier a student entered the school and shot
dead ten of his classmates in an act that shocked the community and changed
lives forever. Innocence opens on the
occasion of a wedding of the shooter’s brother Tuomas (Sean Panikaar) to Stela
(Faustine de Mones). Present at the wedding are the parents of the groom , the mother
Patricia (Claire de Sevinge) and the father Henrik (Tuamos Pursio) and the family
priest (Teddy Tahu Rhodes. A waitress has fallen ill and her replacement Tereza
(Jenny Carlstedt) has been called in, unaware until she arrives that she will
be waiting on the family of the boy who murdered her daughter Marketa (Erika Hammarberg).
Tereza’s appearance becomes the catalyst for the emergence of painful memories,
guilty secrets and a heart-wrenching grief.
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| The teacher and students in Innocence |
Saariaho’s work is a reminder that society is morally and socially culpable and responsible for such horrific acts of terror. Her composition realized so magnificently by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor Clement Mao-Takacs conjures an atmosphere of tension, exploding into a sudden and surprising climax and eventually arriving at a catharsis to the tragedy. All the characters grapple with their guilt. Did the parents raise their son to be a murderer? Could Tuomas have prevented the shooting in which he was implicated by revealing the plot to his parents? Could the teacher Cecilia (Lucy Shelton) have stopped the murder by revealing the clues in his essays? Could Alexia (Marina Dumont) have opened the closet door to let a classmate in, rather than lock them out? Could Marketa have realized the effect of her goading on the bullying? Society’s collective absence of innocence is a central theme in Saariaho’s opera. It is also highlighted by the use of different languages with English surtitles to accentuate international responsibility to address the proliferation of school shootings around the world.
Director Simon Stone uses Chloe Lamford’s astounding revolving two-storeyed set design to stunning effect. The action moves from room to room becoming revealed within the glass exterior as the set revolves from one area of the school to the next. The multiple use of the rooms is used to brilliant effect to reveal a classroom on the upper level before the attack and the kitchen where the wedding feast is being prepared on a lower level. Actors play out the roles of additional characters during the shooting or at the time of the wedding. Time shifts allow a simultaneous viewing of the horrific events with the interaction of character in the present time. The contrast is electric. Stone and choreographer Arco Renz contrast the frantic attempt to escape in parts of the school with Stela and Tuomas’s slow waltz in the shadows below or the slow and threatening movement of the killer’s accomplice Iris (Julie Hega) The impact is riveting. The orchestra under Mao-Takac’s baton are perfectly attuned to the action, providing the emotional response to the unfolding of two tragedies, the shooting ten years earlier and the revelation of the groom’s complicity and breakdown of his marriage and relationship with his bride.
In a production as brilliantly
composed, written and staged as Innocence
there is only adulatory praise. Drama and opera come together in which every
player plays a part and that brilliantly. There is again the outstanding
contribution of a world class Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Chamber
Singers and State Opera South Australia Chorus under Chorus Master Christie
Anderson In the tradition of Operatic triumphs at previous Adelaide Festivals, Innocence stands tall as a beacon of
excellence. This is an opera that forges new ground, takes risks, challenges
audiences and speaks with a universal voice about one of the most important
issues facing a society, keeping its people safe, addressing the issue of
mental health, speaking out on gun control and enabling redemption. This
production in Australia of Innocence
is exclusive to the Adelaide Festival but it is an opera with universal
relevance. The priest pleas for mercy and love to absolve the wrong, pain and
the grief. Marketa asks her mother to let her go. In Innocence Saariaho’s creative spirit offers hope that the entire
world needs to see.
Photos by Andrew Beveridge
