A MAGNIFICENT OPERA OF A DEATHTIME
This was not your typical opera, so this will not be the typical review. Like many times before, I entered the War Memorial Opera House basking in luxury and cheer. It’s a magnificent building in a magnificent setting, with the beautifully lit miniature Capitol building that serves as our City Hall just across the street. And then San Francisco Opera’s production of The Handmaid’s Tale — a magnificent work of art in every way — begins.
Irene Roberts as Offred (center) with The Cast
For those unfamiliar with Margaret Atwood’s book or the popular Hulu series, The Handmaid’s Tale is yet another (but not just another) dystopian tale. Set around now, the story imagines an environmental crisis that triggers a low birth rate, leading religious extremists to establish a totalitarian Republic of Gilead. All women lose their rights. Childbearing women are torn from their homes and forced into a locked facility, where they are raped by powerful men, including the Commander. If they don’t get pregnant after a certain number of rapes, the blame falls on them rather than the men’s impotence. If no pregnancy occurs after three postings, they are sent to colonies to clean up dangerous radioactive waste. The Handmaid of the title, known as Offred (Of Fred) after the Commander of the house, has not yet produced a child, and transfers to her third posting.
Irene Roberts as Offred (center)
Sarah Cambidge as Aunt Lydia, Irene Roberts as Offred (bottom row, right)
and members of the San Francisco Opera Chorus
I felt like an invisible person stuck in a “timely” series of terrorist scenes. Paul Bentley‘s concise and tight libretto, even at two hours and fifty minutes with intermission, weaves together a mix of thirty scenes, shifting between Offred “today” as a Handmaid and Offred in the Time Before, a woman struggling to escape with her husband Luke (Christopher Oglesby) and daughter (Valerie Corrales). As Offred today, mezzo-soprano Irene Roberts embodies operatic excellence with a powerful and inspiring performance. Mezzo-Soprano Simone McIntosh plays the “Double” from the time before. While Roberts excels, commanding the greater air time and range of scenes, McIntosh brings her own intensity and presence, albeit less frequently. Together, the two share one particularly moving scene.
Irene Roberts as Offred
Poul Ruders‘ haunting score, Fabiana Piccioli‘s often bleak lighting punctuated by simulated flashes of explosion, sparse but realistic simulated rapes, and gruesome hangings make this the most unnerving stage production I’ve seen in my 59 years. (Overall, in my opinion, it ties with the film No Country for Old Men as one of the most unsettling works of art.)
Caroline Corrales as Moira and Silvie Jensen as Moira's Aunt
The Handmaid’s Tale is timely with its grim portrayal of a not-so-distant future where some women have value only as vessels to bear the children of “leaders.” I could almost imagine JD Vance clapping along with his wackadoodle attacks on “single cat ladies” and schemes to let parents cast votes for their minor children. Likewise, The Handmaid’s Tale resonates with contemporary assaults on reproductive rights, from the attack on day-after birth control to the absurd criticism of IVF. And the opera is timely in its portrayal of forced sex, evoking real-life horrors such as the sexual violence inflicted by Hamas and the Burmese military.
Lindsay Ammann as Serena Joy (at left and projection), Irene Roberts
Irene Roberts as Offred
The thematic importance of this opera is vast, but even the less prominent singers carry their weight. As the Commander’s wife Serena Joy, a TV gospel singer before the revolution, Mezzo-Soprano Lindsay Ammann commands the stage with her presence far out of proportion to her relatively few lines and scenes. Bass John Relaya as the Commander offers a powerful voice befitting the power of his role, but also displays a gentle and reflective tone at times. He delivers a timeless line: “We thought we could do better. Better is worse for some.”
Irene Roberts as Offred and Rhoslyn Jones as Ofglen
The libretto is structurally brilliant, with its capacity to convey so much of the novel’s feel and story while shifting between past and present. However, in its lyrics and song, it is less poetic than one might expect. The words are somewhat sung, serving the immersive terror of the production well but not something many would study or listen to independently.
Christopher Oglesby as Luke, Simone McIntosh as Offred Double, Irene Roberts (back)
John Relyea as The Commander, Lindsay Ammann as Serena Joy, and Irene Roberts
For the most part, the music, powerfully led by conductor Karen Kamensek, feels ominous and oppressive. The five percussionists utilize a large number of unusual instruments to create a masterful sense of dread and confinement.
Irene Roberts
Caroline Corrales (left) as Moira, Irene Roberts (center) as Offred
Returning to the themes and contemporary resonance, the production shines a light on the fragility of our times, particularly the assault on reproductive freedom and all things deemed “feminine.” It also offers a timeless Dante’s Inferno view of hellish experiences, where each character faces a different kind of imprisonment. The immersive terror of the production echoes how so few resist in totalitarian situations, whether it be the Holocaust, the IRA’s terrorism, or Hamas’s tortures. Set designer Chloe Lamford (Innocence at SFO), projection designer Will Duke, and director John Fulljames create a daunting world. Public executions, such as the hangings depicted in the opera, mirror historical and modern atrocities.
Irene Roberts as Offred and Cast
Lindsay Ammann as Serena Joy and Irene Roberts as Offred
Despite its horror, the production left me with an odd sense of empathy for the limits that imprison all the characters. It wasn’t clear that any single role, unlike today’s individuals, bore disproportionate responsibility. The Commander’s wife, for instance, seemed trapped in her “Plus One” situation. The Commander himself, though powerful, appeared confined by the expectations of his station, seeking intimacy with Offred but unable to step outside his oppressive life.
Irene Roberts as Offred and Gabrielle Beteag as Offred's Mother
Of course, sympathy has its limits. As I write this, preparing to retreat at the serene and magical Tibetan Land of the Medicine Buddha in the Santa Cruz Mountains, I reflect that while the Commander may be unable to self-actualize, unlike the Handmaids, he doesn’t face the same immediate danger of death by hanging.
Irene Roberts as Offred and Valerie Corrales as Offred's Daughter
Much as The Handmaid’s Tale can stir empathy, it is also a timely warning bell of what our own world may become, depending on future political outcomes. The final scene, where much of the cast steps forward holding signs that spell out “IN HOPE,” did indeed leave me with a sense of hope. Like the lotus flower in Buddhist art, beauty may arise from the mud, just as hope may grow from the compassion inspired by these complex characters and their dystopian reality.
Poul Ruders and Paul Bentley's The Handmaid's Tale at SFO
photos by Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera
poster design Brian Stauffer
The Handmaid’s Tale
San Francisco Opera
co-production with Royal Danish Theater
War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave
in English with English supertitles
remaining performances:
September 22 (2 p.m.), 26 (7:30 p.m.), 29 (2 p.m.); and October 1 (7:30 p.m.), 2024
for tickets ($28 to $426), call 415-864-3330 or visit SF Opera
$10 standing room tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. on the day of each performance