Page 589 - Media Coverage Book - 75th Aldeburgh Festival 2024

Festival. For the past decade, the festival has been run by Roger Wright,

who is now stepping down. He has lovingly nurtured its role as a custodian

and champion of Britten’s works, and has deepened its position as a
programme of international standing that remains keenly rooted in the

community, as well as more broadly developing initiatives for innovative

collaborative work and artist development.

This work, the first of Britten’s three Church Parables, is inspired by the

Japanese noh play Sumidagawa (Sumida River, itself staged a few days
earlier by Japanese performers). Britten transformed the play into a

medieval Christian parable, while reflecting Japanese theatre conventions

in its scoring (including flute, piccolo, harp and ritualistic drums), all-male

cast and its direct style of staging.

Deborah Warner’s production features a long central plank running the

length of the nave, which leads to a platform before the altar. While her

staging removes some of the vestiges of noh – the musicians being

participants in the action, the use of masks – the elements of ceremony and

mystery, of austerity and simplicity, are deeply entrenched.

The cast is first rate, with tenor Ian Bostridge – a long-time Britten

specialist – as the Madwoman deranged by grief for her abducted son who,

she discovers, perished after crossing the river. Wearing a soiled yellow

dress and clutching a mangy duvet and broken umbrella, Bostridge projects

the mother’s despair with visceral force and a vocal power that remains

undiminished as he approaches the age of 60.

Baritone Duncan Rock is the weather-hardened Ferryman, his concern for

immediate realities at first colliding with the Madwoman’s inner torment;

and Marcus Farnsworth is a distinguished Traveller, movingly inviting the
Madwoman to join in a communal prayer for her son. Willard White,

looking and sounding at least a quarter-century brighter than his years, is a