Review: The Makropulos Case

PRACTICALLY opening the unparalleled showcase of global culture last weekend was Leeds’s very own Opera North which chose the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh for the premiere of a gem drawn from their forthcoming season.

The Makropulos Case was a judicious choice to highlight the unique skill of the company, combining, as it does, a domineering performance from a new 
star, with some sublime staging and lashings of humour.

The juggling act performed in creating this version of Janacek’s opera is a difficult one but the company achieves it with panache and confidence.

However, this isn’t a production guilty of resting on its laurels. In fact, drawing all our attention was the aforementioned starlet, 
Ylva Kihlberg who’s relatively unknown in the UK, but deserves to garner a far 
higher profile with this breathtaking performance filled with guts and 
mystery.

Guts and mystery are certainly required given that she is playing Emelia Marty, a famous opera singer with a dark secret.

Initially the story, which begins in a lawyer’s office, appears a little dry, but by 
the end of the show we have been taken on a fantastical journey no one, save for 
those familiar with the narrative, could ever have predicted.

The twists provide plenty 
for the creative team at 
Opera North to get their 
teeth into and the resulting 
set and lighting, though 
not the most complicated or extravagant the company 
has ever attempted, 
shows subtlety and 
vision.

It is with some pride that a local company put a production created in this city before an international audience, and that audience reacted with rapturous applause.

There were only two performances staged in Edinburgh, though The Makropulos Case returns 
to Leeds this autumn as 
the third of three operas 
being performed by Opera North.

On the evidence of this debut, the subsequent two offerings, Don Giovanni and Faust which open in September and October respectively, have much to live up to.

October 18, 24, 27 and November 2, Leeds Grand Theatre.