Review: Carmilla, The Space

I’m all for risk-taking in fringe theatre, and The Space, a place that always offers a great welcome, does risk-taking as well as anyone. Here, it’s their latest show Carmilla – possibly their first foray into opera – because it’s good to try new things. Except this is not quite opera as we know it. Instead, it’s described as a spoken word opera. But even that feels wrong; a spoken opera should still surely incorporate some singing? Which leads one to ask, when is an opera not actually an opera?

Carmilla is the story of Laura (Charmaine Cheong), who becomes infatuated by Carmilla (Emmy Khan), the girl left in her father’s care to recover from an accident. But Carmilla is hiding a secret, that she is a vampire, and worse, responsible for the recent death of the General’s daughter. 

The major issue is that, whilst admirable in its ambition to have a live score, the music and the actual play rarely marry together to any great satisfaction. A question that any production should ask is ‘why?’ And here that is ‘Why the need for an orchestra? What does it actually add?’ Take it away, and the play would be the same. This actually might be a much better choice.

The production is further hindered by the score, which slightly lacks variety. It’s a constant drone of dread that looms large over everything without much relief. The tense sound is fine when we approach moments of apprehension, especially when the vampire is lurking menacingly around us, but at other times it just feels unnecessary, distracting rather than adding to the performance. Only during a superbly considered ballroom scene does the music relax and become momentarily upbeat – a demonstration of what should be possible.  

Of course, the other issue of having an orchestra is how it dominates everything, including the actors’ voices, leaving it a struggle to hear words clearly. It’s not helped by the directorial choice to perform in thrust staging, leaving us often watching an actor’s back and with a lack of clear projection, resulting in the words fighting to be heard above the music.

Much like the performance, the orchestra dominates this review, which is a shame, as there is plenty of promise elsewhere. The story could be a classic Gothic vampire one, with the modern twist of the lesbian love interest. It needs further work to build it out, though. Other than one brief stolen kiss and plenty of walking around arm in arm, there is not enough to demonstrate a strong connection between the doomed pair, but the foundations are there. The two leads do give wonderful performances, and you yearn for more of that to construct the story around. 

There’s also plenty to love about the lighting design, which makes great use of the building, and whilst there are questions over that thrust staging decision, the lighting does at least work well in this configuration.  

This really is a case of needing to look again at what the creatives are trying to achieve and asking if it could be stripped back to the bones and rebuilt. Carmilla is not an opera in any sense, nor is it a spoken opera, really: it is a play with a live score, and questions must be asked as to whether that score is even needed. If it stuck to being a play, built around the love story, maybe it could grow into a Gothic story worthy of playing in one of fringe theatre’s most historically interesting buildings. As it is, it feels like an opportunity missed. 

Based on the novel by Sheridan Le Fanu
Directed & Produced by Heenal Shah
Script Editor: Eliza Mardlin
Associate Producer: Charmaine Cheong
Stage Manager: Matilda Barker
Set Designer: Bernadette Carter
Costume Designer: Sophie Daily-Hunt
Musical Director: Bogdan Skrypka
Lighting Technician: Heenal Shah
Musicians: Gabriel Wood (Oboe), Aidan May (Tenor Saxophone), Mimi Yinxuan Huang (Violin), Daniel Yiu (Cello), Joshua Gearing (Harmonium & Glockenspiel), Ishan Bhadra (Piano)

Carmilla has completed its run at The Space