The Cunning Little Vixen ENO REVIEW

The Cunning Little Vixen (ENO) tells the tale of a sweet-natured, pointy-eared vixen entrapped by a forester for use as a children’s pet and who is later tied up in the back yard. On escaping, she reverts to her true nature by killing the cock, ravishing the hens and escaping back to the woodland to start a family. She is then killed by an oafish poacher from a neighbouring village.

On the surface, The Cunning Little Vixen (1924) by Leoš Janácek is a charming tale accompanied by the distinctive rhythm of Moravian folk songs but hidden within the plot are deeper allegorical significances.

We are confronted with the beauty of unbridled nature pitted against the moribund and decaying human world – a “four legs good, two legs bad” Orwellian allegory. Contrast the exuberance and free spiritedness of the woodland animals and the dull, dreary lives of the forester, priest and school master.

Sally Matthews sings the key soprano role of Sharp Eyes the Vixen. She successfully conveys the character’s sweet nature – coy, demure but her modest downward gazes mean that her voice is sometimes directed into the orchestra pit. Pumeza Matshikiza provides the perfect counterfoil as her paramour, the Fox. Pumeza’s voice is clear and colourful…any right-minded vixen would find her hard to resist.

Lester Lynch as the Forester, prowls and growls his way around the stage striking terror in his wake. He has a commanding vocal presence which fills the London Coliseum auditorium.

The best comic moments in the Cunning Little Vixen (ENO) stem from the opera’s anthropomorphism. Sharp Eyes describes her background and education as if on a first date and has the audience guffawing at mention of the mating activities of other creatures and when the forester sets a trap, Bright Eyes exclaims “Does he think we are fools?”.

Tom Scutt adopts a television studio set with props and storyline painted onto huge scrolls of paper to give vertical interest. The blackened stage provides a foil for the colourful animal, insect and fauna costumes. There are iridescent insects, metallic red-spotted toadstools and bridal chickens with perfect yellow patent shoes. Some costumes were less successful, a giant ball of fluff turned out to be a family dog and scurrying black-hatted creatures reminiscent of Victorian bobbies could be beetles.

Martyn Brabbins made light work of the conducting which was challenging as the music called for frequent loud and staccato percussion pieces that needed to be perfectly timed not to drown out the vocals. With this in mind it may have befitted the priest (Clive Bayley) and the School Master (Alan Oke) to project their voices more in Act Two to counterbalance the musical score.

And it’s a wrap…the poacher kills the vixen, the forester exits out of the studio back door…we run out of projector tape – it’s the end.

Jamie Manton, pulls the rabbit out of the hat, his direction of The Cunning Little Vixen  (ENO) makes for an exuberant production that relays a charming comic tale and gives something to chew over for those looking for deeper allegorical significance.

Maxine Morse  wrote this review of the Cunning Little Vixen as part of her opera critics training at the English National Opera. To see other reviews from her mentoring see The Valkyrie, HMS Pinafore, The Handmaid’s Tale, Cosi Fan Tutte, Satyagraha and La Boheme.

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