Review: Opera just the ticket to take Flight

A Scottish production of a hit opera set in an airport has touched down in Adelaide – read the review.

Countertenor James Laing, left, as the Refugee with the cast of Scottish Opera production of Flight, presented by State Opera South Australia. Picture: Andrew Beveridge

Review: Flight, by Jonathan Dove

State Opera South Australia

Her Majesty’s Theatre

May 8 to 10

Much more fun than being stuck in an airport, UK composer Jonathan Dove’s contemporary opera Flight soars through an often turbulent mix of raunchy humour, social commentary, romantic dilemmas and revealing random encounters.

Cherie Boogaart and James Laing in Scottish Opera production of Flight, presented by State Opera South Australia. Picture: Andrew Beveridge

Surtitle screens even advise the audience to fasten its seatbelts as we find ourselves spending a night in the departure lounge with randy flight attendants, frustrated holiday-makers and an expectant mother, among others.

Observing and gently manipulating all this is the Refugee, a character forced to live in the airport, inspired by the same real-life story as Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’ film The Terminal, but taking a very different approach path.

English countertenor James Laing’s delicate, almost fragile, high-pitched voice immediately sets the Refugee apart as an outsider – even more so than his dishevelled appearance.

Dove uses the countertenor’s voice to great musical effect as well, juxtaposing it against the deep, booming baritone (and imposing physical presence) of Teddy Tahu Rhodes’ immigration security officer, then gently intertwining it in star-crossed romantic duets with the even higher-flying coloratura soprano of airport controller Anna Voshege.

This Scottish Opera production presented by State Opera South Australia actually marks the official Australian debut of internationally acclaimed Melbourne director Stephen Barlow, who keeps the eyes entertained as well as the ears through cleverly choreographed routines on a largely static set.

That set’s arch resembles an aircraft hanger but comes to life in its own right as the show progresses through the clever use of projections which include radar effects that show the tremendous storm which grounds the cast of would-be passengers and crew overnight.

Scottish Opera production of Flight, presented by State Opera South Australia. Picture: Andrew Beveridge

Samuel Dale Johnson and Ashlyn Tymms in Scottish Opera production of Flight, presented by State Opera South Australia. Picture: Andrew Beveridge

Its concealed elevator doors also open to reveal many of the show’s highlights, including a particularly athletic and outrageous sexual display by the steward (Samuel Dale Johnson) and stewardess (Ashlyn Tymms).

Nina Korbe and Henry Choo are delightful as the feuding couple trying to reinvigorate their romance with the help of a holiday and relationship guide book, and Cherie Boogaart brings her trademark flamboyant brilliance to the role of a middle-aged mystery woman awaiting the promised arrival of her much younger lover.

Mezzo soprano Fiona McArdle gives heart to the story as the heavily pregnant woman who fears not flying so much as losing her own identity, and sends her diplomat husband (Jeremy Tatchell) jetting off to Minsk without her.

Librettist April De Angelis’s lyrics are an absolute hoot, often incorporating preposterous rhymes for sheer comic effect. Dove’s score employs fanfares, rumbling percussion and jazz-tinged crescendos in manner more akin to a Sondheim musical than traditional opera, and is dynamically realised by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra under conductor Charlotte Corderoy.

As the other characters turn to – and then turn on – the Refugee, Flight examines the human condition from birth, through love and death, but mostly uses its forced microcosm of society to examine attitudes towards those who exist on its fringes.

– Patrick McDonald