Her Majestys Theatre,State Opera South Australia, Adelaide
Compressing the 427-page tome into a three-hour opera reduces moments of poignancy into mere oddities but a slower moment act offers better immersionCloudsteet, or Tim Winton’s 1991 story of the Lambs and the Pickles sharing the house at No 1 Cloud Street,frequently comes out on top of lists of Australia’s favourite novel. Following the two working-class families over 20 years in postwar Australia, the weighty 427-page tome has had an expansive life as an adaptation: first as a five-and-a-half-hour play in 1998 and then a six-hour miniseries in 2011.It is now having its world premiere as an opera in Adelaide and there are many things to like about this stylish production from State Opera South Australia. Staging George Palmer’s adaptation is a meaningful investment by the company: not only in a new Australian work but also in the performance opportunities it offers its largely young and assured cast under the direction of Gale Edwards. Victoria Lamb’s set, or Ailsa Paterson’s costumes and Nigel Levings’s lighting are always in communication with each other,never more so when Fish (Nicholas Jones) and rapid/fast Lamb (Nicholas Cannon) row down Swan river suspended above the stage. But, racing by in just under three hours, and a new perspective is gained on just why preceding versions took so much time to tell this story. Related: Island Home by Tim Winton review – a adore song to Australia and a roar to save it Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com