The Silver Lake by Kurt Weill & Georg Kaiser. English Touring Opera autumn tour. 4****. William Russell

London
The Silver Lake
A pay in three acts
Music by Kurt Weill & book by Georg Kaiser.
Translated by Lionel Salter English sung text translated by James Conway & James Holmes.
4****
Hackney Empire, Mare Street, London to October 7 & on English Touring Opera tour with The Seraglio until 15 November 2019.
Runs 2hr 15mins One interval.
TICKETS: www.
Tour dates: Buxton Opera House 12 Oct; Gala Theatre, Durham 19 October; Theatre Royal Bath 22 October; Snape Maltings 25 October; Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden 1 Nov; Great Hall, Lancaster University 7 Nov; Northcott Theatre Exeter 14 & 15 Nov. Contact your local theatre.
@Reviewsgate
@pursuivant
Review: William Russell 7 October

London
The Silver Lake
A pay in three acts
Music by Kurt Weill & book by Georg Kaiser.
Translated by Lionel Salter English sung text translated by James Conway & James Holmes.
4****
Hackney Empire, Mare Street, London to October 7 & on English Touring Opera tour with The Seraglio until 15 November 2019.
Runs 2hr 15mins One interval.
TICKETS: www.englishtouringopera.org.uk
Tour dates: Buxton Opera House 12 Oct; Gala Theatre, Durham 19 October; Theatre Royal Bath 22 October; Snape Maltings 25 October; Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden 1 Nov; Great Hall, Lancaster University 7 Nov; Northcott Theatre Exeter 14 & 15 Nov. Contact your local theatre.
@Reviewsgate
@pursuivant
Review: William Russell 7 October

This interesting work by Weill, one of three he composed with the writer Georg Kaiser, is rarely performed – I cannot find any reference to recent, indeed any, productions here and the chance to see what came before his famous works with Brecht – The Threepenny Opera and The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahoganny – not to mention his Broadway career with musicals like Lady in the Dark, Knickerbocker Holiday and Street Scene - should not be missed. It is a strange mixture of speech and song, first staged in 1933 when the far right was on the rise in Germany and has echoes for today that are brought out in this version devised for English Touring Opera. The original production survived for about two weeks before the Nazis closed the production and a few days later Weill left for America, while Kaiser ended up in Switzerland. It has its longeurs, some of the production ideas do not quite work – director James Conway makes use of placards for the narrator of the tale to use which bear messages to illustrate moments and are anything but legible. But designer Adam Wiltshire has come up with a useful skeletal set for the journey undertaken by the policeman Olim, a sonorous and impressive Ronald Samm, and Severin, David Webb growing in stature as the evening proceeds, as the thief he has wounded. It is a time of hunger, the authorities are crushing dissent, and people are starving. Olim regrets what he has done and decides to rescue the thief, and this ill matched pair embark on a journey which will end with their walking off into the future – the snow has fallen, the path ahead is treacherous, they come to the lake and miraculously it freezes over.
The piece is a songspiel, that mixture of song and speech peculiarly German, and rather over burdened it seems in the original with Kaiser’s plots but Conway and conductor James Holmes, while respecting the score, have been ruthless in paring down the wordiness. The result works remarkably well and if the score never quite rises to the heights of the operas with Brecht it is still full of good things well sung. Clarissa Meek is splendidly sinister as the housekeeper in the castle Olim acquires, a down on her luck aristocrat of the kind who at the time were exploited by the Nazis, Luci Briginshaw is touching as the poor relation Fennimore, and Bernadette Iglich strides smartly through as a compere not quite out of Cabaret. All credit for ETO to rescuing a piece which still has power to make you think where society is going today.
Severin: David Webb.
Olim: Ronald Samm.
Frau Von Luber: Clarissa Meek.
Fennimore: Luci Briginshaw.
Lottery Agent/Baron Laur: James Kryshak,
Shop Girls: Abigail Kelly, Hollie-Anne Bangham, Rosanna Harris, Amanda Wagg.
Gravediggers/Youths: David Horton, Andrew Tipple, Jan Capinski, Bradley Travis, Maciek O’Shea.
Narrator: Bernadette Iglich.
Conductor: James Holmes.
Director: James Conway.
Choreographer: Bernadette Iglich.
Designer: Adam Wiltshire.
Lighting Designer: David W Kidd.
Production photography: Richard Hubert Smith.

Various choirs participate in the performances with StreetWise Opera carrying out the role at the Empire.