La Damnation de Faust is a problem opera. The problem is that it’s not an opera.
It is more often than not performed in concert as it lies somewhere between an oratorio, a cantata and an opera. Berlioz plumped for a ‘légende dramatique’. There are just four singing roles: Marguerite (mezzo-soprano), Faust (tenor), Méphistophélès (baritone or bass) and Brander, a student, (bass); but, being Berlioz, it requires a big orchestra.
Terry Gilliam directed a production for English National Opera in 2011 that was generally well received and Glyndebourne chose it this year to open their festival to mark the 150th year after Berlioz’s death. In both productions Christopher Purves, once a choral scholar at King’s College Cambridge, was cast as Méphistophélès. I went on Thursday evening to see Richard Jones’s production. As Jones is a year older than me I can hardly call him an enfant terrible of opera and theatre so let’s settle for a controversial but prolific director. The trick with Berlioz’s Faust is to give the audience something to look at while not distracting them from Berlioz’s music and Jones pulls it off. The set is minimal and the characters are left alone when they have something good to sing. Throughout, two galleries of devils look on from above and a troupe of rubber-limbed dancers cavort during some of the instrumental parts. Unlike Les Troyens (running time around 5 1/2 hours), Faust is slightly less than 2 1/2 hours, of course excluding the generous Glyndebourne dinner interval. It was a bold move to put it on and even more courageous to entrust something so difficult to stage to Richard Jones but their trust was not misplaced. He gave the huge orchestra, three harps for example, and singers room to breathe while providing enough spectacle to give the punters value for money.
Observations: a complimentary modern bus now shuttles between Lewes station and Glyndebourne; a significant number of men don’t wear dinner jackets; possibly half the audience choose to eat in one of the restaurants, an attractive option compared to bringing a picnic on the train.