The Trial, Royal Opera House Linsbury Studio ****

Johnny Herford and Nicholas Folwell in the Trial

For my uncle's birthday, I managed to get tickets to the world premiere of Glass' new work. Having been to the insight the night before and having received a sneak preview of Glass' work, the excitement increased. I came away amazed at the feet Glass had seemed to pull off. The plot is about a man named Joseph K who, on his 30th birthday, is arrested on the grounds of which the audience never finds out. He then tries to bribe, sleep and argue his way out court with little success. The score is utterly beautiful, being more melodic than previous compositions and, whilst Hampton's libretto does not always gel with the score, it adapts Kafka's work well. The cast too impress with a spellbinding performance from K who is onstage for almost all of the play. The other singers also have a equally tough job multi- rolling which is pulled off perfectly. However the stand out aspect of this new opera is Michael McCarthy's direction. His minimalist style helps emphasize the absurdity of K's situation with fantastic situations of bathos. In one scene, K gives a speech of the corrupt courts which builds in a climax only to end in the maid having sex with a student which gets the attention. This direction is also evident in the costumes and makeup. As you can see in the photo,only Joseph K is dressed normally and the other singers are dressed in a surrealist manner also displaying the juxtaposition from the seriousness of the situation and eventual denouement of the piece.