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Billy Budd, ENO, December 2005
By Jane Garratt
Billy Budd by Benjamin Britten is an Opera which works exceptionally well on stage but which I can not honestly call enjoyable. For me the music is inspiring but the content is so very difficult. From the first notes, sung by Captain Vere of the Indomitable, the audience enters into a series of terrible situations producing very intense emotions. We discover an isolated community gripped by injustice, cruelty, sadism, fear, repressed homosexuality, lack of purpose and anger. The appalling inevitability of the unfolding events, ending with the final execution, is combined with the feeling that this shouldn't have been permitted to happen and that makes this a dark and uncomfortable piece.
Photo ENO/Clive Barda
The current ENO production centres on a remarkable, movable hydraulic stage. This is well lit, but the surrounding area is in deep shadow. This setting is acceptably claustrophobic when the entire crew is on stage, but I found that the central area lacked any feeling of constriction when only a few people were present. The continual movement also distracts the audience, breaking the mood between scenes. It's an idea which doesn't quite work.
The subtle lighting seems to be a metaphor for "goodness" and "evil". Claggart is always in darkness, while Billy is always catching the light, even though he moves in the shadows around the central area. Captain Vere, caught between the two extremes of evil and goodness, is in shadow when troubled at the beginning and end of the piece, but in the light during the actual action.
On to the performances. The orchestra is entirely successful in evoking the horror of the piece. Andrew Litton achieves a fast paced, crisp sound, but the music is also haunting in scenes such as Billy in the Darbies. The chorus are equally convincing, producing a volume and intensity in the rousing action sequences which makes the entire auditorium vibrate. But it is the performances of the main singers which make this such a memorable production.
John Tomlinson is wonderful as the Master at Arms, Claggart. On set he is in complete control of the situation. He radiates command presence and there is something about the way he moves that makes the audience uneasy even before he says anything. Claggart is a complex character, 
sadistic and yet in great agony, and this production allows various interpretations of the causes of his pain including repressed (and illegal) homosexuality. In his long aria he sings "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness comprehends it and suffers", and for the first time ever I felt his pain, rather than being totally overwhelmed by the violence and cruelty of the man. For me, this Claggart is in such agony that he wants to die, and accepts death with relief.
SK with John Tomlinson. Photo ENO/Clive Barda
Timothy Robinson, making his debut as Vere, sang with great conviction. He shows the turmoil of a weak man who wants to be a good man, but who is confronted by a situation in which he lacks the strength to make the morally correct decision. Vere allows Billy to be executed when he could and should have prevented it, and you feel that his remorse is sincere and unbearable.
But, the most stunning performance is given by Simon Keenlyside as Billy Budd. To begin with Billy shines with naïve innocence and enthusiasm. Simon is an eager to please 17 year old who never stands still, dancing round the crew, up the rigging and over the decks. He gives everything as he laughs, jokes, fights and climbs with absolute abandon. He creates a father and son relationship with Gwynne Howell as Dansker. He is utterly confounded b
y Claggart's accusation of mutiny, lapses into a tongue-tied inability to reply and then lashes out at his accuser with righteous anger. Billy grows in maturity as he faces the court and the death sentence, is utterly incredulous that Vere will not help him, and comes into his own in the final aria where he accepts his death. This aria moves the entire production onto a higher plane, and his courage and final statement "Starry Vere, God bless you" are heartbreaking. I haven't mentioned the quality of his singing, because it is so entirely part of a complete performance that it almost seems wrong to mention it separately. His singing is exactly what is required at every moment, from innocence to maturity and death, and it manages to convey all these states beautifully. Simon produces the most complete physical, psychological and vocal performance of Billy that I have ever seen.
SK with Gwynne Howell as Dansker. Photo by Tristram Kenton
The shocked silence of the audience at the end of every performance shows how powerful the work is. I'm glad I saw this, but I still came out of the theatre crying at the waste and injustice of it all, and perhaps that is what Britten intended.
JG January 2006