The Stone God Review: Opera delivers a wonderful adaption of Hong Ying’s books.
Based on the books by Hong Ying, The Stone God is set in 1970s Chongqing and tells two magical tales of the young Chinese boy Sangsang.
The first is a narrated story of The Girl From the French Fort, where Sangsang seems to find himself transported back in time and must help a new friend who lives in the titular French fort. Narrated by Tim Bentinck accompanied by beautifully illustrated shown on large screens and the wonderful music from Arcadian Opera.
While Bentinck slips up on his lines on a couple of occasions, he is a solid narrator. What elevates this story is the sounds of the orchestra that manage to bring to life falling rain, a boisterous dinner party, a cat stalking a bird, and much more.
Coming in at around 20 minutes this short story is a nice opening.
Following a brief interval the main opera, The Stone God, commences. In 1970’s Chonging a young boy of unwavering virtue engages with a colourful collection of characters: a wrathful warrior spirit imprisoned within a statue, a local sorceress with ancient powers, and a charming girl of his own age caught up in a primeval quarrel.
Here the small cast and set design brings 1970s Chongqing to life excellently.
This period’s clash between ancient China and the modern country that was being forged during these decades is well presented: an ancient god angry at the sudden changes in fashion, the dilemma of trusting a traditional medicine lady or modern doctors, the importance of schooling for a generation whose parents were unable to do so. This all added an extra layer of complexity and detail that was appreciated.
It is billed as an opera for all ages. Organisers stated that “Children, young adults and seasoned opera-goers will be enchanted by this fast-moving tale.”
The late start (7:30) seemed an odd time for a performance aimed to entice Children. This may be why on opening night the audience was majority adult. The fact that the opera was based on Children’s stories, but watched by a mainly adult audience, seemed not to be a problem.
All the individual components from story to music to setting were done well enough that collectively it was a very good show, capable of drawing the interest of a child and adult alike.
The performances featured Arcadian Opera’s co-founder, and musical director Justin Lavender as conductor, and co-founder Ali Marshall will be the stage director. Composer Nicholas Michael Smith is an ‘Old China Hand’ well versed in Chinese culture and history.
Hong Ying, whose works this opera was based on, has written a series of children’s stories where the magic of old China meets 20th-century realism. They explore inevitable conflicts between old and new, supernatural and scientific.
The opera was performed at Bloomsbury Theatre in London, from the 1st – 3rd of November.
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