Arts & Events
A Harrowing but Challenging HANDMAID’S TALE at San Francisco Opera
Danish composer Paul Ruders’ opera based on Margaret Atwood’s 1984 novel The Handmaid’s Tale received its first performance in Copenhagen in a Danish-language production. This opera’s first US production was at Minnesota Opera in 2003. The present production here was originally scheduled for 2020, but the Covid pandemic intervened and this production was postponed until now. So on September 14 Paul Ruders’ The Handmaid’s Tale opened at San Francisco Opera; and I attended the Sunday matinee on September 22. This is a new production with an English-language libretto by Paul Bentley and directed by John Fulljames.
Like the Margaret Atwood novel on which it is based, Paul Ruders’ The Handmaid’s Tale pulls no punches regarding the lengths patriarchal authoritarian regimes will go in reducing women to second or even third-class citizens, who have no rights to own property, have no rights over their own bodies, and are forbidden to read or write. Instead, in Atwood’s fictional version of a future USA she calls Gilead, women are separated from their husbands, partners, and even their children, and are assigned to bear children to previously childless couples whose husbands are high members of the Commanders class that rules in Gilead after a violent coup that brought them to power.
The opera, like the novel, is told from one young woman’s point of view. She is called Offred, a name given her by the Commanders. Arrrested when she, her husband Luke, and their 5 year-old daughter were attempting to flee across the border to escape the cruel regime in Gilead, Offred is sent to a Red Centre where she and other women are indoctrinated with the religious views underlying the Judeo-Christian evangelical roots of Gilead.. Elder women called “Aunts” hector
the child-bearing women about their duty to provide babies for the class of Commanders and their childless wives. Soprano Sarah Cambridge is Aunt Lydia, who stridently harangues the young women about their duties. Paul Ruders’ music for these harangues is violent and highly percussive. It is NOT pleasant to listen to. In fact, throughout this opera, most of the music is strident and not pleasant to listen to. But there are, thankfully, many moments when Offred, alone and lonely, as sung by mezzo-soprano Irene Roberts, expresses her emotional emptiness in plaintive tones that are quite moving. And I add that this opera creates an Offred-double, beautifully sung by mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh, who sings ebulliently of Offred’s life before the Gilead coup.
Before continuing on with this opera;’s plot, I note that I previously wrote an article on Margaret Atwood’s novel and the current anti-abortion push, which article appeared in the August 14, 2022
issue here. Further, I note that in a most serendipitous manner on the very Sunday morning I was to attend this opera I heard on NPR’s Weekend Edition an interview with journalist Matthew D. Taylor about his newly published book, The Violent Take It By Force. In this book, Taylor focuses on Christian evangelicals who formed a group called New Apostolic Reformation, which preaches that what’s needed is a spiritual war in which angels are pitted against demons, and this war must be led by “apostles and prophets,” charismatic leaders who can inspire multitudes to follow their lead. Taylor reports that many of these New Apostolic Reformation leaders went to Washington DC on or before September 6, 2021, to inspire the insurrection. Whereas those who physically invaded the Capital on September 6 have been prosecuted, found guilty, and sentenced to jail time, none of the New Apostolic Reformation leaders have ever been prosecuted.
In the role of Serena Joy, ageing wife of the high Commander to whom Offred is assigned, mezzo-soprano Lindsay Ammanni was effective though hardly likeable, either vocally or psychologically. Bass John Relyea was The Commander, and he sang the part well and with nuanced feelings, as his character tried to negotiate a bit of intimacy into a highly impersonal situation. Tenor Christopher Oglesby was a naively optimistic Luke, the husband of Offred before the Gilead coup.
Soprano Rhoslyn Jones sang the role of Ofglen, who eventually introduces Offred to a resistance movement whose password is “Mayday.” Soprano Caroline Corrales was Moira, who manages to escape from the Rad Centre but ends up as a prostitute at the Jezebel Club for Commanders, where Offred is taken by her Commander for an illicit evening out. Soprano Katrina Galka was Janine, later called Ofwarren, whose baby was initially celebrated but soon discovered to have deformities and was euthanized. Jasmine was taken away to be killed.
The Commander’s household has two servants, Rita, sung by contralto Sara Couden, and Nick, sung by tenor Brenton Ryan. Both sang well in their respective roles. Tenor Matthew Dibattista sang the obnoxious role of the doctor whose gynecological exam of Offred turns into an attempt to seduce her. Mezzo-soprano Gabrielle Beteagn sang the role of Offred’s mother, who before the Gilead coup tries to warn Offred of the perils that await under a Gilead rule. There are numerous other small roles, too peripheral to be mentioned here. Suffice it to say, in conclusion, that Offred accepts to have an illicit affair with Nick, and she is eventually alerted by him that police are coming to arrest her. But Nick assures her with the password “Mayday” that these police are members of the resistance she should trust to help her. As the opera ends, Offred sings that she doesn’t know whether this is the end of her story or a new beginning, and she hesitantly wonders if she’s stepping into darkness or the light.
Conductor Karan Kamensek faithfully rendered this highly percussive orchestral score, and director John Fulljames’s staging brilliantly moved fluidly between past and present, between Prior Times before the Gilead coup and the Now time of repressive Gilead. Set designer was Chloe Lamford, Costume Designer was Christina Cunningham, who clothed the Handmaids in red with white headdresses. Lighting Director was Fabiana P.iccini. All told, this was a courageous opera, but it was also one where I wish the music had been a bit less strident and often downright unpleasant. Nonetheless, the music fits the story!