Maazel's
re-working of Orwell's novel has been almost universally condemned by the
critics, but I did TRY to keep an open mind; there were many things I liked
about it! Not least the fact that it started with the sound of Big Ben striking
thirteen - you'll probably recall that the novel starts with the clocks
striking thirteen. The opera starts with the "Two Minutes' Hate", and
unfortunately, well-written as the music is (including the "National
Anrthem of Oceania", which seems to parody every cliché of every national
anthem that has ever been written - surely deliberately!) Maazel seems to think
that the "Two Minutes' Hate" is directed at the current enemy,
Eurasia (though it will become - and WILL ALWAYS HAVE BEEN - Eastasia in the
course of the narrative), whereas in the novel it is directed at the figure of
Goldstein, enemy of the party, enemy of Big Brother, corruptor of youth, etc.
etc.
This
indicates right at the outset one of the main problems with Maazel's version of
1984 - that the more general political thrust of the novel is weakened in
favour of the love-story of Winston and Julia.
Before pursuing this theme, I
will draw attention to the episodes that I thought were very well done...
One of
Smith's colleagues, Syme, sings a lyric in praise of NEWSPEAK, "the only
language whose vocabulary gets smaller every year!" The text of the lyric
is quoted in the programme, and the first line is "The beauty of
Newspeak". The irony is, of course, that once Newspeak has been fully
launched, there will not BE a concept of beauty. This is sung by Laurence
Brownlee in an audaciously high tenor verging on the falsetto, to, of all
things, a jaunty dance tune! Much of the score relies on parody and pastiche,
and as these were the parts that stood out and grabbed the attention, I imagine
that this is deliberate on Maazel's part. There are also some beautiful
passages for solo violin - Maazel is a violinist. Sometimes the music is a bit
- well, "obvious" I suppose - when Winston and Julia are caught, you
just KNOW there are going to be crashing chords in the orchestra, and sure
enough....and there is no shortage of ominous drumbeats at crucial moments.
The other
scene that I thought was very well done was the scene after the arrest, when
Winston is separated from Julia and waiting for his fate. Some
"ordinary" - that is, non-political - prisoners are brought in,
including a drunken prostitute. She makes crude advances to Winston, and then
while two of Winston's colleagues are brought in (including Syme, who hasn't
quite managed to make Newspeak stick after all) the high woman's voice
(uttering crude banalities) accompanies the men's voices like a sort of
threnody.
I had been
wondering how Maazel was going to deal with the central political theme of the
novel...you will recall that when O'Brien has Winston completely at his mercy,
he reveals the reason why the Party is in power and why it will stay in power -
"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in
the good of others; we are interested solely in power...We know that no-one
ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means,
it is an end....There will be no art, no literature, no science....If you want
a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face ? for
ever".
Now THAT is
the central thesis of Orwell's novel. I thought perhaps it could be done as a
sort of Handelian aria,or possibly like Iago's "Credo" in OTELLO, but in the event Maazel deals with it by - leaving it
out!! And that was really the greatest disappointment for me.
I've
mentioned Lawrence Brownlee's striking performance as Syme - Keenlyside is
appropriately tormented (psychologically, I mean) as Winston Smith,
convincingly conveying the yearning for (or possibly memory of ) a better world
than the one he lives in, and he is well-matched by Nancy Gustafson's Julia.
And I was impressed by Richard Margison's O'Brien.
All in all
then - it was interesting, but in the final analysis it has to be said that
Maazel has rather missed the point.
Click on the image for an online text of Orwell's novel
Well done comrade! You're one of the big boys! When you're not holding speeches about how everyone is equal in the communist society, you're busy living the high-life while millions starve, freeze or get worked to death! You zany person you!
You are Louis Althusser! You tried to bring together structuralism, Marxism, and Lacanian psychoanalysis. Your brilliant analysis of ideology and the state is still widely influential. You murdered your wife, were put in a sanitarium, and lived the last decade of your life alone before dying in 1990.
