From the House of the Dead

Synopsis

Janacek's last opera. Set in a Siberian prison, each act tells the story of a different prisoner reliving a crisis from his past. Themes of compassion, humanity and forgiveness raise this from the darkness.

Our Review:

Ron Simpson - 5 May 2011

Leos Janacek’s From the House of the Dead has no coherent narrative and, in John Fulljames’ production, character definition for more than a few principals is limited, with the shaven heads and prison uniforms, plus Bruno Poet’s shadowed lighting, meaning that, at curtain call, it was sometimes difficult to tell which character was receiving the applause.

Yet it’s a compelling evening. The libretto, adapted by the composer from Dostoyevsky’s novel, is mainly a series of tortured individual narratives by prisoners, the early imprisonment of the aristocrat Goryanchikov and his release in the closing minutes hardly constituting a developing plot. John Fulljames has confidence in the power of these narratives and doesn’t encumber them with gratuitous distraction. The production has its episodes of well-handled action, ranging from brutality to the camp cavortings of the bizarre “play within a play”, but for much of Act 3 Fulljames is happy to leave his...

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