Curlew River: A Parable for Church Performance (1964) Benjamin Britten. Adaptation of NOH play

The play begins and ends with the hooded monks entering and exiting  on the stone "river"

Noh Theater combines with the mystery play in this production by Benjamin Britten, a follow up to his adaptation of the Indonesian gamelan music, after visting Bali, heard in performance by the SF Symphony, conducted by MTT.  This opera "Curlew River" is incredibly moving.  An introductory note:  "Clear as a sky without a cloud/may be a mother's mind,/But darker than a starless night/With not one gleam, not one gleam, not one, /No gleam to show the way." -- William Plomer, Curlew River (after Jruo Motomasa)

This "visionary" production directed by Netia Jones, UK, stars tenor Ian Bostridge, and won acclaim in its world premiere at London's Barbican last fall.   Jones says, "Curlew River is an extraordinary and unique thing...."Benjamin Britten, returning from travels in the Far East..reimagined a noh theater production he had seen, which he found incredibly moving.   Britten has meshed together English medieval mystery plays wtih the aesthetic of Japanese noh theater. ,"   

First staged at Cal performances in 1968, Curlew River narrates in song and music, the story of a woman's heart rending pilgrimage in search of her missing 12 year old son who was stolen from her, and undergoes a passage from "madness" to "spiritual redemption".  Ms Jones says, "It's the nost beautiful slender, utterly moving story..the woman's role, in an echo of the traditions of noh theater, is played by a man...Ian is steeped in Benjamin Britten, and Britten is very much at the heart of what he does."    As a director , Ms Jones says that the projected and visual worlds, seen in a slit through the sail on the wharf...serve to focus even more clearly the story evolving...with sea gulls wafting in the air and on the "water" on the stage....The movement of the raft at the shoreline, and the walking of the traveller...are viewed on screen as well, to augment the minimal stage, and performer's constraints in their boundaries with darkness and light, , confusion and clarity, obscurity and spiritual illumination, enlightened radiance or divine light, oblivion and ultimate redemption -- all conveyed through the music.  Stillness, ritual, and economy of restrained gestures, with visual richness.  Zeami Motokiyo, the 14th century noh master describes the "madness" as a spiritual state accompanied by a separation from the self."  The ferry master says to the woman: "Your mind wanders, but you know what you seek."     

Britten says that the characeristics of the noh drama that attracted him were: 
"the touching story, the economy of style, the intense slowness of the action, the marvelous skill and control of the performers, the beautiful costumes, the mixture of chanting,speech and singing which, with the instruments, made up the strange music."    His adaptation of the ritual and of spontaniety are heightened through contrast and opposition,, opacity and transparency, creating a subtle and intense tension. which overall proves  remarkable. (adapted from the stage notes of Netia Jone.

The narrative of the boy's fate  is sung  by the ferry master, and by Ian Bostridge as the distraught woman, with a "traveller" having a supporting role, as does the Abbot, of course, along with the 8 pilgrim  monks who do a sleight of hand in changing their costumes on stage, from their appearance as brethren, to townsmen and ferry passengers.   The "Mad Woman" comes from the Black Mountains and seeks passage on the ferry, which she ultimately obtains, thanks to the pleas of The Traveller and the passengesr. " The "lost son" who was buried one year ago, on this very day, aappears as a spirit when the mother is led to the tomb, when the ferry has crossed the Curlew, from West to the Eastern fens...   provides some unity, remedy and consolation to the heart broken mother figure.  She is restored to sanity.   The music carries the tragic air, the journey motif, the role of people in response to the tragic noble woman's loss of her son...and has some echoes of Britten's Peter Grimes, in the cruel enslavement of the stolen child by a rough character, whom we hear of, from the ferry man's account. Soloists are from the Pacific Boy Choir Academy and have the voice of angels. The monks conclude the performance with "Te lucis ante terminum, the act of the mother finding her son's grave, being "a sign of God's grace"..."in hope, in peace, ends our mystery".intones the Abbott.

 The performance lasts 70 minutes, in which one's own heart and emotions are held in thrall, to the heartache of the narrative and to the beautiful transcendent voice of Ian Bostridge,I am grateful that I will hear again, when he sings the war themed songs of Britten, which is my memorial moment for Paul Fussell and my studies with him of the WWI poets, who lost their lives in their 30's,  This production was one of the most beautiful I have experienced, in part due to the shadow and light and restraint of the noh play, and to the devotational spirit of the mystery play.  

Ian Bostridge singing "the Mad Woman" 

The Abbott and the Pilgrim monks