When Haugesund Chamber Opera and Haugesund Theater come together to create an Agatha Christie opera, it is the first time in world history that the crime queen meets the opera genre on stage. Ambitions are high for this foresight, and the result quite impressive. HERKSAPLEG AND NIFST: Vera Clayton (Lene Rudbæk) is one of the eight guests invited to the island by the mysterious UN Owen. Behind him: Pianist and composer Mathias Halvorsen, double bass player Nikolai Matthews. At the very back, you can see the balloon choir held during the projection. Photo: Motiejus Kurmis Criminal and lordly The sound of something lordly reaches you long before you enter the doors of Haugesund theatre. Classical piano playing, as if from a lounge concert, mixes with seagulls’ cries and small talk. And when you enter, it’s like walking straight into a fine stove. Chandeliers hang from the ceiling, and composer and pianist Mathias Halvorsen plays the grand piano. Tightly around this weasel, but distinguished stova sit audience. It makes the theater experience intimate, intense and extra dramatic when the opera singers show their vocal prowess. Before the projection begins, the stage is full of what may appear to be stage technicians, but which turn out to be the opera choir from Haugesund Chamber Opera. Their gloved hands stitch the props. They also have a place for a cyanide bottle. In a way, they step into the role of the all-knowing theater choir. They can be both investigators and criminal assistants. An interesting move that several missed during the foresight. The start promises just as well. WHAT’S UP? Few people know what happens on the island and not least why they are there. Here: Janna Kari Kvinnesland as the maid and André Søfteland as Master Rogers. Photo: Motiejus Kurmis When Haugesund Chamber Opera celebrates its 10th anniversary, there is no reason to play opera. On the occasion of the anniversary, they have asked Mathias Halvorsen to compose a new opera. He chose the text of a super-famous crime novel, “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie. About Agatha Christie Agatha Christie was a British author. She wrote over 80 crime novels, and is still one of the most popular in her genre. As a crime writer, Christie also carried the recipe for Conan Doyle’s: a shrewd detective, a wealth of evidence, a judicious selection of suspects, and a surprising solution. She created, among other things, the characters Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Wrote several plays, with “The Mousetrap” being the best known. The play has played without interruption in London since its premiere in 1952. During the First World War she worked as a nurse in England. Since then she traveled a lot and accompanied her husband, the archaeologist Max EL Mallowan, on excavation expeditions to, among other places, Syria and Iraq. Source: Great Norwegian Lexicon Composer Halvorsen has taken the chamber format seriously when he has composed the music for piano (which he plays himself) and double bass (Nikolai Matthews). It works well. The interaction between the two is close and playful. Together, they bring out both the picturesque, the dramatic and the light-hearted in this crime-opera comedy. Criminal children’s rhyme The action is set on an island, in this version outside Arendal (!). There are ten people on the island: two waiters and eight guests, but the host does not appear. There is no telephone or contact with the mainland. One by one, the ten days are drawn, just like in the old English children’s rhyme “Tin small soldiers”. GUILTY?: Jørgen Backer as Judge Wargrave. Photo: Motiejus Kurmis The intensity of the piece rises in step with the death toll. The operatic format reinforces the intense feeling, but also strengthens the humor in the play. Here they sing powerfully and with passion. Not all the performers are trained opera singers, and not all get the text across equally well. But if you are not an opera star, you bring out your comic talent – as, for example, Ane Skumsvoll does as a doctor dressed in fox fur. The soprano Mathilde Salmi Marjavara lifts the performance with dramatic melodic runs, clear intentions in action and tone and good diction. For the public, it’s a good idea to brush up on the book or the TV version before going to the theater this time, at least the beginning of it. There are many names, many presentations and plots – all in all a lot that will fall into place in the first part. Then it is important that you know what is happening. After all, one wants to find out who the murderer is. THINEST IN THE RANKS: Things get intense as the number of guests dwindles. From left: André Søfteland, Jørgen Backer, Mathilde Salmi Marjavara, Nikolai Matthews, Janna Kari Kvinnesland and Ane Skumsvoll. Photo: Motiejus Kurmis Vekslingar So the choir is not used well enough in this presentation, there is a lot of waiting for them. The choir is holding ten balloons that represent the ten soldier figures that are crushed one by one in the story – but the balloons don’t pop when they should, it seems. At times there is a lot of running in and out of doors, but the details in the narrative are still there. The right prop seems to be in the right place at the right time so that everyone dies when they are supposed to. I think it could be useful to have a program where you could follow the children’s poem, for example. The performance makes good use of all the possibilities in the theater – both Marjavara and André Søfteland alternate between playing two roles, and double bassist Matthews is also one of the ten. The open role changes are part of the theatrical play and fit into the caricatured and funny roles. VICTIM?: Tenor Kjell Magnus Sandve, originally from Karmøy, plays Captain Phillip Lombard. Photo: Motiejus Kurmis Non-musical detail But they could have spared themselves one thing. Agatha Christie published “And Then There Were None” in 1939, then under a completely different title and with words no longer used today. Considering the colonial era in which the work was written, it is simply unmusical when one of the actors brings out boxes of joikaka when there is no food, and they have to go to the cellar for canned goods. It’s not a big or important detail, and probably meant to be humorous – this canned product has also changed its name. But I still think it’s wrong. If Haugesund teater is right (and I think they are), they are the first in the world to create an Agatha Christie opera. In wesle Haugesund. If “And Then There Were None” shows where the list will be in the new theater building that was just approved, there is a lot of exciting performing arts in store for the heaps of people in the years to come. news reports Photo: Motiejus Kurmis Title: “And Then There Were None” By: Agatha Christie Location: Haugesund theater Duration: 135 minutes, including two breaks. Director: Morten Joachim Henriksen On stage: Nikolai Matthews, Ane Skumsvoll, Jørgen Backer, Lene Rudbæk, Janna Kari Kvinnesland, Mathias Halvorsen, Andre Søfteland, Mathilde Salmi Marjavara, Kjell Magnus Sandve Music by: Mathias Halvorsen Musicians: Mathias Halvorsen and Nikolai Matthews Choir : Haugesund Chamber Opera Scenographic assistance: Gjermund Andresen Costume: Lene Rudbæk
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“And Then There Were None” at Haugesund theater – Reviews and recommendations
