Another thought about the opera. Nothing much happens. Boy meets girl by a pool (though the girl has thrown or dropped a crown into the pool, so perhaps there must be something special about the girl). Boy marries girl, still not knowing much about her. Girl and boy's brother meet and fall in love. Later, boy suspects girl of infidelity. Surprises them. Kill brother. Regrets. Everyone regrets. Just an everyday story of muddled love.
The characters come with little or nothing in the way of biography, or baggage. Melisande is evidently lively, unconstrained: the red dress tells us that. She enters the constrained, sylised routines of the court. The competition for her will press against the courtly constraints. We soon gather, from costuming, and from movement, that the members of the court contain their passions.
The long-haired, red-dressed Melisande is the agent of change, all unwittingly. By the end of the opera, the boy is sufficiently roused to kill his brother and publicity to regret what he has done.
Derek, what do you think?
Don
No comments:
Post a Comment