Three hours of opera and no sex but plenty of death

Three hours of opera and no sex - I didn’t think it was possible! But despite the lack of romance in this classic story I was riveted, writes Phil Brown.

Jose Carbo in Macbeth In Concert.

Three hours of opera and no sex! What’s going on? But I guess William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth really doesn’t have any and some point out there’s not even romance. I mean you couldn’t find anything romantic in the twisted relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, pair of murderous nutters.

This is not the play Macbeth, though. It’s Giuseppe Verdi’s opera presented by Opera Queensland in a concert version. Verdi took Shakespeare’s shortest play and turned it into three hours that I will never get back.

And you know what? In this instance I don’t care because Opera Queensland’s main stage debut for the year, Macbeth in Concert, is world class. I was sitting on the end of the row near the door, as is my wont, but there was no need to escape. I was riveted throughout.

Meet the murderous Macbeths played by Jose Carbo and Anna-Louise Cole

But I wondered why there is no sex in this story? Is it just too damn cold in Scotland? Perhaps.

I mean I was last in Scotland, in December 2017 at Inverness near where Macbeth is set, I’m telling you, I couldn’t feel my extremities!

Macbeth is set around that region in the 11th century and there was a real king called Macbeth but we’re sure William Shakespeare took liberties because he never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

And what a fantastic tale it is full of prophecy and magic and murder most foul and ghosts and politics and everything else. Except sex. Some say there is a romance but it is between Macbeth and himself. Well he is a psychotic narcissist.
Laura Hansford has directed this piece brilliantly and it is spare but all the more compelling for that. It is staged in the Concert Hall at QPAC with the singers in front of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra under the baton of new Chief Conductor Umberto Clerici. The orchestra was on fire and so was he who was absolutely on fire. He didn’t miss a beat although he did miss a step up and stumbled onto the podium at one stage but quickly regathered his composure.

The Opera Queensland Chorus was one of the stars on Thursday night and they did the witches perfectly adding some hilarious and spooky cackling at one stage. Surtitles and atmospheric skies and fog appeared on a giant oval screen hung above the stage with a bare tree beneath it. It looked like an alien or an alien’s brain at least hovering overhead and it worked a treat and you do have to follow those surtitles because you want to follow this amazing story about ambition and where that can lead people.

Jose Carbo is Macbeth and he is simply magnificent. What poise and presence and his pure baritone captured us and held our attention as the tragedy played out. A tragedy that ends in triumph for the forces of good this time around.

The Opera Queensland choir is magnificent in Macbeth

Soprano Anna-Louise Cole is Lady Macbeth and she kinds of steals the show at times because let’s face it, Lady Macbeth is one of the most dramatic and memorable characters in literature and theatre and everyone was just waiting for her to say “Out damned spot!” when she finds she can’t get the blood off her hands after her husband has murdered King Duncan, Banquo and Macduff’s whole family.

Macduff escapes though and we know that’s a problem for the perfidious Macbeth who becomes king by murdering King Duncan. “Beware Macduff” the witches tell Macbeth and so he should. Macduff is local tenor Rosario La Spina and he too is magnificent.

I went to the Opera Bastille in Paris recently and the production I saw there was no better than this Opera Queensland production. I was reluctant to attend initially, after finding that it was three hours long and I kept my options open. There is sometimes the temptation to scarper at interval. Not this time around.

They had me at the get go and held my attention and everyone else’s.

In the spirit of the play I wore my Scott tartan tie (my mum was of the Scott clan) but I didn’t notice any tartan on stage and hell, would it have killed them to have a bit of bagpipe playing? They could have piped us in or out. I know Verdi wasn’t Scottish but the story is.

Michael Fassbender as the murderous Macbeth in a scene from director Justin Kurzel's 2015 film

And what a story it is. It has been told well on screen a few times and we recently watched the rather excellent 2015 film version of Macbeth starring Michael Fassbender which is pretty good but Roman Polanski’s film is till the gold standard. It’s a play regularly performed but we haven’t had the opera in Brisbane for more than a decade. So glad it is back and if you have any Scots blood coursing through your veins, or even if you don’t, see if you can grab a seats in the Concert Hall at QPAC Saturday afternoon because there is only one more performance which seems a shame. So dinna miss it!

Opera Queensland’s Macbeth is on in the Concert Hall at QPAC at 2pm Saturday March 11q.com.au