In Parenthesis, Royal Opera House

Nothing in the abundant literature of the Great War matches David Jones’ In Parenthesis (1937). While most war poets focused on traditional lyrics, taking up the language of their Edwardian upbringing, the writer and artist Jones instead crafted a staggering epic. Admired by Yeats and adored by Eliot, it became one of the masterpieces of English modernism. Fusing poetry and prose to startling lyric affect, it depicts a private’s front line experience leading to the Somme. The lines are often fragmentary and hugely referential, with biting realism nestling alongside mythological and literary explorations. According to Auden, it was “the greatest work about the First World War” and comparable to Homer and Dante – a reputation that has persisted among many contemporary writers and academics but seldom been conveyed to the public.

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Adapting such a work is such a difficult undertaking, but in the hands of the ever-exploratory Welsh National Opera (Meistersingers of Nurnberg) it might well be a triumph. Performed on Covent Garden’s main for two days in the summer – the second of which is the centenary of the Battle of the Somme – it has been composed by Iain Bell (Theater an der Wien’s The Harlot’s Progress), one of Britain’s foremost young composers. The libretto has been prepared by storyteller David Antrobus and opera director Emma Jenkins, both experienced hands with literary adaptation. David Poutney, WNO chief and internationally recognised director, will lead the production, with stars tenor Andrew Bidlack as Private John Ball. Carlo Rizzi (La Cenerentola), a perennial baton-wielder at the house, will conduct the orchestra.

This looks to be one of the most ambitious productions of the 2015-16 season. If Bell and Poutney pull it off, it could be extraordinary.

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