A quiet day's pottering at home, writing a sermon, followed by an evening outing to the Millenium Centre for the WNO's performance of Donizetti's opera 'Anna Bolena', the Italian spin on the tale of Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn, the first part of a series of three Donizetti operas around the English Tudors. Unusually, the auditorium was less than full, perhaps because of critics' lament about the stage design and costume. It was certainly a minimalist presentation on a black set with dark colours so that the lighting emphasised mainly faces and hands.
The costumes were a de-historicised allusion to the period, almost Wagnerian in abstraction, nothing attractive or likeable. Enrico, with his long mane and garb looked as if he'd been parachuted in from the ring cycle. He projected nastiness so effectively that at curtain call he raised an appreciative theatrical 'boo' as well as applause from the audience. The music, the singing and stagecraft of the performers, not to mention the energetic antics of the conductor, made the performance powerful and moving, provided you could be philosophical about the mise en scene. A great night out.
Donizetti's liberetto portrays an evil, ruthless, scheming king in a less than subtle way. Taking into account what a nasty piece of work the author of the Anglican break with Rome was, there seemed to me an element of Italian Papal aggression towards the English in the spin given to the story told. How did that go down when it was first performed in London two hundred years ago? I wondered. Mind you, if the story had been set in an a non-historical continental land, fictitious or real, with characters named to suit, this probably wouldn't have drawn my attention.
It's impossible to feel pride about the origins of Anglicanism in reformation conflict. It's something of a miracle of divine grace that so much good fruit came from inauspicious origins over centuries since.
Talking of which, the Church in Wales Governing Body voted in favour of ordaining women to the episcopate yesterday. It will grieve many adherents to a traditional understanding of ministry and church structures but at least it's reformation without blood letting. More reform is needed to make the church and its message more credible to the contemporary world - the way episcopacy and authority are exercised, the way decisions are made and followed through. Old ways and institutions can't last much longer due to decline financial support that goes with loss of members. Can the church lose size without totally losing substance and significance? It's not really in our hands. It's up to God.
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