A dark musical fable with a rarely heard score by Kurt Weill and a message from 1930s Germany that holds good today
The Silver Lake was the last collaboration between playwright Georg Kaiser and composer/librettist Kurt Weill, before they fled Germany in 1933. The Nazis banned this ‘story for Winter’, as its creators subtitled it, and it’s easy to see why in James Conway’s timely production.
Subversive and poetic, this dark tale opens with a march of the unemployed and homeless, as a gang of starving men – led by the desperate Severin – break into a grocery store. That the marchers are vividly played here by an excellent chorus from Streetwise Opera, whose members are homeless themselves, instantly thrusts the action onto the streets of 21st-century Britain. The company gets to wave placards too, some with useful surtitles.
As the police close in, Severin makes off clutching a pineapple, poignantly mesmerised by the luxury fruit, only to be shot by the policeman Olim. But the good-hearted copper is struck with remorse; so when he wins a lottery in a sudden fairy-tale reverse, he seeks to make amends. Without revealing his identity, he buys a castle and takes in the man he has left with life-changing injuries and a bitter thirst for revenge. How Olim’s good intentions are almost thwarted, and the journey of this ill-matched pair from desperation to redemption across the Silver Lake, provide the driving narrative.
Along the way there are intriguing and telling moments. For example, when the scene shifts from the raided grocery shop to a store where a couple of on-message shop girls reveal that stocks are deliberately kept low to keep up demand. As the savvy duo, Abigail Kelly and Hollie-anne Bangham perfectly pinpoint the resonance for now in the production’s chosen style, a helpful combination of English speech and singing in German.
‘Girlpower’ is another thread running through the production. Choreographer Bernadette Iglich achieves an intriguing double, taking the role of Narrator, another useful device for keeping the audience abreast of a convoluted plot.
The opposing forces of good and evil are wonderfully represented by two female protagonists. Clarissa Meek’s scheming, ruthless Frau von Luber – the embittered, impoverished aristo forced to work as Olim’s housekeeper – channels the Bond franchise’s villainous Rosa Klebb to bring her employer down. That her actions are not thwarted, but used to bring about a course of reconciliation and redemption for Ronald Samm’s heartbreakingly repentant Olim and David Webb’s angry, damaged Severin, is down to the most intriguing character in this strange tale. Olim is persuaded to take in von Luber’s niece, Fennimore, also unemployed and homeless. But she is an optimist, her glass more than half full. In Luci Briginshaw’s radiant performance, she becomes a guardian angel, lifting the climax to an allegory of hope as she leads Olim and Severin along the arduous path towards a new community across the frozen Silver Lake.
Adam Wilshire’s towering scaffolding set frames these uniformly powerful singers. The orchestra revels in sharing Weill’s evocative, challenging score. Lucky are those who get the chance to journey across the Silver Lake in the English Touring Opera's inclusive company.
By Judi Herman
Photos by Richard Hubert Smith
The Silver Lake (Der Silbersee) tours until Friday 15 November, visiting County Durham (19 Oct), Somerset (22 Oct), Suffolk (26 Oct), Essex (1 Nov), Lancaster (7 Nov) and Devon (14-15 Nov). See JR listings for further info or visit englishtouringopera.org.uk.