Of all the places for Salome to cast off her seven veils, Leeds Town Hall must count among the most incongruous. You only had to look at the slogans on its walls: “goodwill to all men”; “honesty is the best policy”. And even if King Herod was reluctant to execute John the Baptist, I doubt “trial by jury ” was high on his list of priorities for dealing with the awkward prophet imprisoned in his basement.
Opera North’s music director, Richard Farnes, and his gutsy orchestra redressed the balance, though it did take a while for them to counter the Hall’s uncomfortable embrace. Salome should crackle with vice from the word go; this one took a while to get going. But by the time Farnes had launched into Salome’s coruscating striptease he knew exactly what he was doing. At full tilt, the Orchestra of Opera North gave us no reason to rue the absence of a staged production: brassy screams and voluptuously decadent strings brought us uncomfortably close to Straussian neurosis.
To say that Susan Bullock couldn’t quite come as close in her portrayal of the title role is not to malign her superb credentials. Bullock thrills with her laser-like accuracy; she sings with careful attention to text. But I wasn’t totally caught up in the fate of a Salome whose petulance was more obvious than her vulnerability, and the soft, high notes that balance the harsh demands of the role largely elude her.
Those seeking subtlety wouldn’t have found it in Daniel Sumegi’s oversized John the Baptist, either. Sumegi’s single-minded, fanatical portrayal — half Ayatollah, half David Blaine — thundered out with ruthless efficiency.
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Light and shade has to come from the other grotesques in Judaea, and few could fault them. Peter Hoare’s Herod, all sweating, seething feverishness, was masterfully done, and his loosened collar a witty response to a dance where not a single veil was shed. Anne-Marie Owens revelled in the sardonic put-downs of Herodias, and the appearance of the quarrelling Jews in a handy balcony pulled off something of a theatrical coup. Not a Salome with all the trimmings, but a very tasty dish all the same.
Next performance Saturday (0113-224 3801), then to Nottingham and Gateshead.