Victorian Opera | The Visitors
October 20, 2023, The Arts Centre, Melbourne, VIC
In Jane Harrison’s play six Aboriginal elders and one young initiate representing nearby clans and groups gather on the shores of Warrane (Sydney Cove) on a fateful day In January 1788 in response to the arrival of the First Fleet. They have a weighty and serious task. How will they respond?
The Visitors is a new opera commissioned by the Victorian Opera and premiering in Melbourne in the week after the failed referendum to recognise First Nations people in Australia’s constitution. The play on which the opera is based was staged in 2020 and the book, released this year, have both met with critical acclaim.
With new music by composer Christopher Sainsbury, descendent of the Dharug people of the Euroa Nation, Victorian Opera has gathered together an impressive First Nations creative team and cast of singers to bring this work to life with the Melbourne Opera Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Phoebe Briggs and director Isaac Drandic.
An opera in one act, the set by Richard Roberts is simple and striking. Consisting of a circle in the sand, four eucalyptus trees with white bark exposed around the perimeter, and the occasional imposing and eerie silhouette of a European sailing ship in the distance.
Lighting designer Rachael Burker not only moves us through the course of the day on which the action is set, but even manages to put the spotlight on us, the audience, by a subtle raising of the house lights at one stage during the opera. Turning us into ‘the visitors’ for a moment with profound effect.
Sound designer Sam Moxham should take credit for the clarity of sound, singers and words could be heard so well we hardly needed the surtitles.
The casting was superb, with clear matching of characters with singing voices. Marcus Corowa played Jabob, a young elder with a new wife, keen for a fight and to get back home. Zoy Frangos played Gordon, a warrior who carried the trauma of seeing his father shot by the original visit of The Visitors some 18 years earlier. His moving caricature came to the fore at the very end of the opera.
Eddie Muliaumaseali’i was Albert, perhaps the most senior of the group with a wonderful deep and resonant bass and flowing grey hair. And Elias Wilson played Gary, the moderator of the group. Albert and Gary had significant roles in the action, facilitating the pace of the narrative and moving the action along.
To the Aunties:
Lois, played by Lillian Fromyhr is an initiate, a young woman warrior sent to the meeting by her Uncle Raymond. Gary and Albert lead a vote to allow her to speak and contribute to the decision making process, and she brings special insights having been up close to the new arrivals. Sadly, this is also her downfall as, in front of our eyes and without leaving the stage, she develops a visible and debilitating illness and is weakened to the point of being unable to contribute.
That leads us to the two final and powerful characters, Jess Hitchcock as Joycie and Shauntai Sherree Abdul-Rahman as Winsome. I think these characters and voices really elevated the opera. The older character, Aunty Joycie, was deferred to many times both as a healer and doctor but also as grandmother, a woman of compassion and wisdom, who ultimately influences all the characters. Abdul-Rahman’s soaring soprano is used many times in the layering of choruses and at times sent shivers up my spine.
Composer Christopher Sainsbury is the master of the chorus. The most beautiful moments in the opera are when all of the characters are expressing themselves, regardless if that is as one mind or of different opinion. There is an elegance to his writing in those moments which is very touching. I was very moved by the final chorus, which of course has been building from the start as we journeyed through the story together.
There is no malice or resentment in Jane’s telling. In fact, the opposite is true. The discussion rages from, ‘maybe they need our help’ and, ‘let’s shoo them away’ to, ‘they must go’. It’s nice that the language used is clear and not watered down or infantilised; you could imagine the discussion happening today.
The last minute compassion and kindness shown by Gordon (Zoy Frangos) and the group, who after building up to a frenetic war cry against the invaders switched to a peaceful welcoming of the invaders made me think about the recent ask of First Nations people in the referendum. ‘An absurd act of generosity’, to use Melbourne elder Uncle Glenn Loughrey’s expression.
Well done Opera Victoria for supporting this important production and giving a voice in opera to our First Nations people.
