Hidden Depths of Nature in the Watery Realm of Garsington

Water is the source of life, yet for the Prince in Dvořák’s remarkable opera Rusalka it leads to death. The natural world he has only encountered when out hunting does not fulfil his needs, and this lost soul is drawn to the lake with its mysterious yet vibrant life. That vibrancy is portrayed using aerialists, acrobats and the three wood nymphs with their singing roles in this new production by Jack Furness for Garsington Opera.

The opera’s heroine Rusalka is a water creature (her name is a Czech word meaning water nymph) who has been given human form, but like Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid is mute. Having fallen in love with the Prince, she asks the witch Ježibaba to turn her into a human, but that leads to her losing the ability to talk, and if the Prince rejects her she will be trapped between earth and water, neither human nor a small force of nature like the gentle wave in the water that she once was. It is an enchanting story recalling the famous Undine of the German writer Friedrich de la Motte, but from the depths of the Czech countryside where Dvořák owned a retreat away from Prague.

The staging included a pool of water with a heavy covering that could be lifted to show Rusalka’s sisters, the other rusalki, along with the ‘water goblin’ Vodník. An air of magical irreality pervaded the staging as dancers clambered on gantries and sat suspended on and between ropes hanging from above. The world of nature does not quite obey the rational rules we humans live by, a fact fully realised in this excellent production.

As Rusalka herself, Natalya Romaniw was outstanding. Her powerful and compelling singing was supported by a stage presence showing her ambivalent existence as she sings of being ‘a child of cool water, and all this is alien to me’. The fatherly Vodník who warns her of the dangers of joining the human realm with its social rules and class distinctions was the warm- voiced baritone Musa Ngqungwana, with Christine Rice as a strong and imposing Ježibaba. As the Prince, Gerard Schneider displayed a noble tone, and Sky Ingram, excellent as the spiteful Princess who mocks Rusalka, gladly welcomed pantomime boos at the end.

Conductor Douglas Boyd revealed the fine juxtaposition of darkness and light in Dvořák’s score, providing a late afternoon and evening exhibiting the subtlety underlying the natural world. Marvellous.