REVIEW: WNO Ainadamar – Fountain of Tears at Mayflower Theatre

The Welsh National Opera was back at the Mayflower with their instalment of ‘Ainadamar’ by Osvaldo Golijov. This opera has a perfect balance of everything; music, dance and theatre – all coming together hand in hand to tell this powerfully poignant story. With full disclosure, I must say that this is actually my very first opera, and from what I saw tonight I can also say that it is hopefully my first of many. ‘Ainadamar’, which is Arabic for ‘Fountain of Tears’, is a two-time Grammy winning opera which uses a mixture of Spanish singing, flamenco dancing and poetic outbursts.

With this being my first opera, I was quite worried that the story would get lost and I would struggle to understand what was going on. This was absolutely not the case. The shifting of the music and production, really helps guide you through the story without being left behind. Director, ‘Deborah Colker’, has done a fantastic job by working with the whole company to make this so smooth.

‘Ainadamar’ (‘Fountain of Tears’), is the ancient well near Granada where Federico García Lorca (Spanish poet and playwright) was brutally executed during the Spanish civil war in 1936, after being branded as a ‘homosexual socialist’. This opera takes us through Lorca’s life via a flashback of memories from his muse, Margarita Xirgu, an actress. Xirgu now in her final moments, is wanting to pass on the hopes and passion of her generation onto one of her students, Nuria. Throughout the story, there’s lots of different tones that are portrayed – and the opera is non linear, meaning that the time frames do jump around. This again, could be quite confusing but the way WNO have put this piece together makes it so you can follow along with ease. 

If you’re new to opera or have never even thought about going to see one, I can absolutely recommend Welsh National Opera

One thing I really liked was how the opera just continued to flow. The live orchestra, mixed with the superbly talented cast made the 1 hour and 20 minutes with no interval just fly by. At the end, I heard multiple people all saying, “that definitely didn’t feel like 80 minutes.” Can’t get much higher praise than that, time flies when you’re having fun – job well done! Jacquelina Livieri, who played the role of ‘Margarita Xirgu’, was just exceptional. Her vocals were fantastic and the way that she had the audience there with her on her every word was expertly done. Much the same has to be said about Julieth Lozano Rolong (Nuria). ‘Nuria’ is almost the voice of the audience on stage because she is being told Lorca’s story – just as we are in the audience – and the bond between herself and ‘Xirgu’ comes across so eloquently. Fantastic Job! I think I also need to mention Hanna Hip, who had the role of ‘Federico García Lorca’, as it goes without saying the vocals were flawless, but the way she brought a different edge to the character was so creative. Every single member of the cast brought a big level of energy to that stage – and the tone of the whole opera went with them. Amazing! 

I’d also like to add, that with Hanna Hip playing ‘Lorca’ – the three main protagonists in the show were all played by females, even when one of their characters was male. This was incredibly refreshing. The majority of the cast was actually female and it seemed like the male figures in the opera were the oppressive authority in the story and the female figures were fighting against this to help remind us, “of the vital role the artist plays in championing freedom in all its forms” – Aidan Lang, General Director of WNO. That was a repeated theme throughout the opera, and a theme that really speaks to musical theatre now as it also did then. 

This set was also extremely effective yet so simple. The main bulk of the set was a fringe like curtain in a round with four rectangular tables that would move to show different places/scenes. Every now and then you would have some drop downs of different fringe curtains, or wood like debris which when all put together were fantastic. I thought the way they stacked the tables to create almost a barricade was ingenious. The curtains were weirdly mesmerising. The way they would use light and projections together on the curtains was just beautiful. Also the way the cast would interact with the curtains to show either a ripple effect, a doorway, or pinning it back showing us what was happening inside – just amazing. Something so simple, with such an impact. I also liked how you could still see through the curtain and the projections would be used to help tell certain parts of the story. Designers, Jon Bausor (stage), Paul Keogan (lighting), and Tap Rosner (projection) have all done a brilliant job at intertwining their work to create a literal masterpiece! 

WNO tour the UK with multiple different operas/operatic experiences and if they are coming to a theatre near you – I think you’d be silly to miss them. 

When it comes to the music – WOW. It wouldn’t be an opera without a stunning orchestra. I’ve already mentioned how amazing the vocals were from the whole cast, but the accompaniment of WNO’s orchestra made it that much more meaningful. The mixture of classical music with Spanish, Arabic and Jewish influences alongside the rhythms of Cuba and the flamenco were again, a big help in shifting the tempo of the opera and helping the story progress further. I particularly liked when at the start of one the early flashbacks, we see a couple of the musicians on stage playing classical, up tempo, Spanish music with a cajon drum and guitar. At that moment, the music wasn’t a separate entity to the theatre, it was its own specific role that was interacting within the scene. A fine detail that really helped in polishing a complex story.

If you’re new to opera or have never even thought about going to see one, I can absolutely recommend ‘Welsh National Opera’. The production values and cast are superb and from what I thought would be an intimidating night at the theatre, turned out to be another show that I would happily go and watch again. All WNO operas are presented with English surtitles to help you follow the story with even more ease. If you do consider going to see an opera, my top tip would be to do a little bit of research on the general story, just to help yourself understand what is going on. This way when it comes to watching the show, you can sit back and enjoy without worrying too much that you may misunderstand something. WNO tour the UK with multiple different operas/operatic experiences and if they are coming to a theatre near you – I think you’d be silly to miss them.