7 Deaths of Maria Callas, English National Opera review ★★★★★

'Opera is boring.... It's always four or five hours,' performance artist Marina Abramović declared two years ago when she opened a sculpture show at the Lisson Gallery relating to her opera project 7 Deaths of Maria Callas.

That controversial statement may be one reason Abramović never pulled off the appearances at the Royal Opera House for which she had stated ambitions. Instead, 7 Deaths has landed, after ricocheting around European houses,at English National Opera.

Boring? Four or five hours? ENO's current house production, Verdi's La Traviata, comes in, like 7 Deaths, at under two hours, and has been particularly well-received by newcomers to the genre, who were very much not bored.

Aigul Akhmetshina as Carmen, with Willem Dafoe and Marina Abramović on screen. Photo: Tristram Kenton

7 Deaths has grown over 30 years out of Abramović's life-long fascination with the Greek-born soprano Maria Callas. She believes she has a special affinity with the singer, sharing a star sign, and she bears a passing similarity to Callas, with her strong facial features, stature and dark hair. But wearing a gold lamé dress by Burberry and putting her arms out while a Callas recording of Bellini's aria 'Casta diva' plays in the background isn't enough.

The seven deaths of the title recap the demise of seven female characters in some of the most loved operas in the repertoire. A different singer for each opera sings one great aria on stage, in a workaday frock while, on the big screen behind, filling the stage, Abramović and actor Willem Dafoe act out the artist's own interpretation of the character's eventual death.

These dumbshows dwarf the excellent singers, who are made to look like the Borrowers picking their way through Abramović's sprawling, slo-mo visions. If you are new to these operas, you will have no idea why the characters die, other than that they are, in one way or another, victims of their relationships with men.

Karah Son sings Madam Butterfly, with Marina Abramović on screen. Photo: Tristram Kenton

In Part I, Abramović herself, who directs and designs the show, appears throughout on stage in a deathbed, while her filmed self looms large in a series of eye-catching outfits. A crazy bridal gown is trimmed with safety pins for Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, a toreador's jacket conceals an evening gown for Bizet's Carmen, a hazmat suit is peeled off for the suicide of the abandoned young wife in Puccini's Madam Butterfly.

In Part II, she pads, at glacial speed, around a re-creation of Callas's art-filled Paris apartment, and the singers return in an unexpected way.

Yoel Gamzou conducts the orchestra of English National Opera and the women's voices of the chorus, who enrich the new, linking music by Marko Nikodijević. His score opens with ghostly weavings of the aria's principal themes, and Part II thrums with intimations of Callas's own mortality, double basses played al legno – with the wood of the bow – striking at the heart.

Marina Abramović as Callas, in her Paris apartment. Photo: Tristram Kenton

Of the seven soloists, all distinguished in their own right, three stand out. Russian-born, London-based mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina's glowing voice makes the onstage Carmen much more colourful in character than the screen version. Callas, who was born 100 years ago this year, never sang this role on stage but this enticing Habanera was part of her concert repertoire.

Soprano Sarah Tynan sings Donizetti's Lucia with a thrilling range of expression and lace-fine diminuendoes. And Nadine Benjamin's Desdemona from Verdi's Otello is easily a match for the Britney Spears snake action on screen.

As the leading prima donna of the 20th century, Callas lived like Puccini's heroine Tosca, who declares, ‘Vissi d’arte’ – I lived for art' – as sung here by Elbenita Kajtazi. Fair to say that Abramović, who throws herself body and soul into all her work, does the same. But sometimes living for art doesn't always mean being on show.

Marina Abramović channels Maria Callas at English National Opera. Photo: Tristram Kenton

Bringing on some of ENO's tremendous backstage crew for the curtain calls demonstrated that forcibly. It was great to see this invisible army of creative people acknowledged, perhaps the most impressive and certainly the most selfless gesture of the evening.

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Arias are sung in their original language with English surtitles. 7 Deaths of Maria Callas is a co-production of the Bayerische Staatsoper with the Greek National Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Opéra National de Paris and the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli. Further performances are on 8, 9, 11 at 7:30PM and on 5, 11 Nov 3PM