Director Sir Michael Boyd stated from the outset that the typical, shorthand view of Onegin as a villain did not wash with him. Interestingly, my previous operatic role was the eponymous antihero of Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin. Photograph: Alice Pennefather/Photo by Mark Douet Williams as Eugene Onegin in Garsington Opera’s 2016 production, with Natalya Romaniw as Tatyana. In a wonderful scene that appears neither in book nor opera, he almost succeeds in drawing Claggart out of his own self-loathing, a feat that would have today’s psychotherapists applauding. Billy’s gift instead is a natural, uncanny empathy, drawing out the best qualities in anyone he meets. Meanwhile, Billy was played by Terence Stamp in his debut screen role, looking especially youthful and innocent.Īlthough Stamp was an East End lad, he gave Billy a soft, slow, West Country accent, which may have been intended to imply that Billy, though kind and generous, is not overly intelligent – so much for 1950s regional stereotyping. Ustinov not only directed and co-wrote the script but also gave a terrific portrayal of Captain Vere.

She invited us to a movie-night screening of Peter Ustinov’s 1962 Oscar-winning adaption of the story.

The director of our new production at Opera North, Orpha Phelan, began the first week of rehearsals with a cast-bonding exercise. Could it be that we are all aware, even while seeking to control our inner demons in our daily interactions with people we meet (in other words, taking our place in polite society), that our internal monologue running just beneath the surface could be released with startling ease – and, one thinks mischievously, with hilarious results? Welcome to the world of opera.īut, as I rehearse for my debut in the role of Billy, how to be good? Or rather, how does one portray an angel without making him, frankly, a bit dull? Perhaps I have grown used to inhabiting such people in operatic form, but it strikes me that it has been relatively easy to flesh out these monsters of men.

Houston grand opera billy budd