The Handmaid’s Tale by Paul Ruders, until 15 Feb 2024, English National Opera The Coliseum, London, WC2.

4****: Clare Colvin

“Dystopia looms large.”

It’s surprising to remember that Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel was written way back in 1985, and the opera it inspired was first performed in 2000. For when the curtain rose this time on the revival of Danish composer Paul Ruder’s The Handmaid’s Tale at the Coliseum, the impression was that we were closer than ever in the last two years to disaster.

As Juliet Stevenson’s cool white-suited lecturer in the spoken role of Professor Pieixoto introduced the 2195AD Symposium to a recently discovered recorded diary from a Handmaid of the Christian fundamentalist republic of Gilead, the nuclear accidents, political intolerance and misogyny, that led to the fictional dictatorship all seemed to cast a shadow over today’s real world.

Mezzo Kate Lindsay again takes the role of Offred - the handmaid Of-Fred - imprisoned in the house of Commander Fred (bass James Creswell) to supply him and his barren wife Serena Joy with a baby, after a nuclear accident has caused widespread barrenness. The unnatural life of enforced sex leads to constant fear and anger on all sides, particularly in the spite of the wife, superbly portrayed by American contralto Avery Amereau, whose idea of a precious gift is to give Offred a photograph of the daughter that was snatched from Offred when she was forced into servitude.

It appears that even the Commander can’t step out of line. Sending a message to Offred to summon her to play a game of scrabble has to be done secretly, and taking her to the sleazy nightclub Jezebel for fellow Commanders, is against all puritanical rules. Whether Offred manages to escape or to reunite with her former partner and daughter, isn’t made clear, just that any state taking the far right step is likely to end in some form of hell. The libretto by Paul Bentley gets the main point across though even if it is not always clear whereabouts we are in the time scale.

Paul Ruders’s minimal flavoured score fits with the grim, but compelling tale, and the relief of colour is supplied by red gowns for the Handmaids and turquoise for the Wives. Connections are made with symbols from former dictatorships - the iconic Wall of Gilead where the executed are displayed was intended by Margaret Atwood as a reminder of the Berlin Wall. That Wall disappeared four years after publication of the novel, but others have appeared, ever more terrible.

Cast

Professor Pieioxto - Juliet Stevenson

Offered/Offred’s Double - Kate Lindsey

Luke - John Finden

Offer’s Mother - Susan Bickley

Aunt Lydia - Rachel Nicholls

Moira - Nadine Benjamin

Janine/Ofwaren - Rhian Lois

Moira’s Aunt - Helen Johnson

Serena Joy - Avery Amereau

Rita - Madeleine Shaw

The Commander - James Cresswell

Nick - Zwakele Tshabalala

Ofglen - Eleanor Dennis

New Ofglen - Annabella Vesela Ellis

The Doctor - Alan Oke

Creatives

Conductor Joana Carneiro

Director Annilese Miskimmon

Revival director James Hurley

Designer Annemarie Woods

Lighting designer Paula Constable

Revival lighting designer Marc Rosette

Video designer Akhila Krishnan

Sound designer Yvonne Gilbert

Movement director Imogen Knight

Revival movement director Anjali Mehra

Production pictures Zoe Martin