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The English National Opera appears to have a penchant for the modern opera. Last year saw the appearance of Doctor Atomic, produced by Penny Woolcock, an eclectic modern piece dealing with the rise of the Atomic bomb. While some found it intriguing and entertaining, I found it quite frankly bizarre and a tad flat. By the second half, I found remaining alert was proving remarkably difficult and, when the curtains closed, the comments around me revealed that I wasn’t the only one.

This year we have seen the staging of Tosca and Idomeneo. The latter presented an interesting twist to a greek mythological tale composed by Mozart, with ultra-modernist settings of characterless furniture and decor, dull office-esque colours and an atmosphere of stifling formality to contrast an otherwise epic and passionate tale. While the contrastive affect was impressive in its own unconventional way, it was nonetheless somewhat jarring.

And now we are treated to yet another transported classic: The Pearl Fishers, a 19th century French piece by Bizet, also produced by Penny Woolcock. Here it was to be staged in a modern era, and one was somewhat apprehensive of the result for fear of discovering yet another beautiful opera forced into the stifling pantyhose of a modern era at the cost of spirit and impact. However, I was very pleasantly surprised. In a world of ‘high’ entertainment that often reads essentially as the more costly distractions from the World’s realities, this modern rendition of The Pearl Fishers presented itself as a piece that worked remarkably well, not merely for its quality of production but for its consciousness of context. The play
is a 19th century French orientalist piece, portraying a ‘Far Eastern’ village of Pearl fishers and presenting the vibrant culture and eligious/superstitious ways of its inhabitants. The original piece reflected the attitudes and ideas of its time: colonialism and discourses of the Other. In this modern rendition the play is staged in a context of climate change; a pivotal issue of modern times. The setting reveals itself to be a village of presumably Sri Lanka as the original was set in Ceylon, but most likely in Bangladesh, as the programme
appears to indicate. Both the realities of poverty and the complexities of survival before the uncontrollable entity that is nature are skilfully encompassed in a stage that is as vibrant as it is realistic. One is presented with rickety homes built from corrugated iron sheets, wooden beams, and similar cheap and insecure materials, which are perched on the  characteristic bamboo stilts of the region to withstand the frequent floods.

As with the stage the plot also accurately reflects a region struggling to survive in the face of climate change. The living of pearl fishing and the battle to survive entailed forms a central theme; reflecting the complexity of existence in an ever destabilizing ecosystem. A priestess from another village is brought to pray day and night as the villagers go fishing to
ensure they return home to safety. Wrongdoing brings with it tumultuous changes in weather as storms are provoked when the priestess violates her vows. Their very actions directly affect changes in weather, just as our actions today are directly impacting global changes in climate. As the original play was produced for its time, so the new play has been skillfully
adapted to its. Bangladesh is the ‘ground zero’ of Climate Change; a poor and densely populated country that is in danger of 17% submersion by the year 2050, threatening to leave 20 million homeless. Woolcock deftly brings this reality to life, allowing the audience an opportunity to in some way experience the lives of those affected. In a quirky twist, she introduces a Western tourist couple at alternative moments, snapping pictures and weaving a trail between the villagers as they observe in amusement and wonder – a symbol of the London audience upon the stage itself; experiencing the plight of the villagers yet somehow still alien and unaware.

However, if there was a point of criticism, it would be in the performance of the actors. While Nadir was well performed with vocals of evocative power, there was little magic to be found in that of princess Leila or Nourabad. Freddy Tong, drawn from Monty Python to play Nourabad, was an unconvincing jealous lover and appeared ill-placed for the part, while Hanan Alattar proved an unexciting and tedious Leila. It was also amusing to find that while the village was apparently Hindu, both Nadir and Leila had distinctly Muslim names – although I daresay that should be put down to Bizet’s own colonialist confusions and not Woolcock’s production. Furthermore, a stage full of individuals, accurately South Asian in attire yet distinctly English in appearance did little to contribute to realism.

Penny Woolcock’s version of The Pearl Fishers is an engaging opera, presenting pivotal concepts with energy and vibrancy. And while some aspects may not have been brilliant, it remains both an entertaining and important piece.

For those select and enlightened individuals who have set forth on the path of virtue, i.e. enrolled on an English degree and disavowed all things numbered and overly factual, I must extend my heartiest congratulations. Welcome my friends to the land of the free, home of the wild. It pretty much rocks.

Well, apart from one minor detail: there’s a lot of reading. Slightly. As in, minimum four books a week, slightly. Well if you’re up for it that’s all good, but for those who are either too busy, lazy or don’t want to kill the subject with the workload, there is an alternative*.

As a veteran of the degree, below is a list of just a few of my favourite dosser’s websites that saw me through many a seminar

Project Gutenberg
www.gutenberg.org
The poor student’s bible, Project Gutenberg is the online database of free e-books for cultural texts out of copyright [public domain books]. Here you’ll be able to download literature free and fast, including most classical works. Very easy to use, with a simple search engine. An absolute godsend for those of us who can’t afford to buy a shipload of books but attend a university that, in its immense wisdom, reckons one copy of each book is sufficient to cater for its hundreds of literature students.

The Victorian Web
www.victorianweb.org
As the name suggests, brilliant for all things Victorian. And guilt reduction too – I’ve had a lecturer recommend it, so it’s not completely clear of the academic realm either! Good place for summaries, critical commentaries, author biographies and a host of other useful stuff. Came in really handy for both A-levels and university.

Google
www.google.co.uk
Professor Google needs no introduction. In a word: essential. Search out everything from critics to core texts at the click of a mouse and enjoy. Especially good for searching out quotes – Google Books has many a book scanned, and can locate things in a second.

Squashed Philosophers
btinternet.com/~glynhughes/squashed
As great for information as for amusement. This legend of a website has summaries of most major classical works, in modern English. Plenty of amusement distilled throughout too. For Example: “The Very Squashed Version of the First Philosophers: Diogenes of Sinope “The Cynic” (c355BC): Known as ‘the dog’, he lived in a barrel, and was unbelievably rude to everyone, including Alexander the Great.” Glyn Hughes is sheer genius.

Spark Notes
www.sparknotes.com
Yes, I know they’re American and can’t spell, but these people are great for plot synopses and short commentaries on texts, authors and characters. A brilliant place for introductory knowledge, especially for Shakespeare with its ‘No Fear Shakespeare’ page of original Shakespearean works with modern English translations. Bit limited with the range of wider authors and books, but I guess you can’t have everything.

Wikipedia
www.wikipedia.org
The founders of this site need a Nobel Prize. Seriously. These guys have an entry for ‘Anything Under The Sun’. So you can only imagine what they have for famous texts, or authors like Dickens and whatnot. Very informative and often detailed, though always bear in mind the question of reliability and interpretation.

Dictionary.com
www.dictionary.com
The OED Online can go boil its pompous head. Dictionary.com is reliable, easy to use and accessible, with clear layout, short and sweet definitions, phonetic spellings and with recorded pronunciations you can play out. It also has a thesaurus and encyclopaedia on the same site. OED is a more ‘academic’ site, of course, so use that if you’re out to quote definitions and cite sources in essays.

Routeledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Online
www.rep.routledge.com
Finally, an academic source [for philosophy, no less] that makes it all perfectly clear and understandable. Literary theory is a tricky subject, but this site makes it all accessible with minimal jargon and clear language. And it’s a trusted academic source, so entirely citeable. You’ll need your Athens password to access it, though.

But I’m sure you’re all responsible students who love the reading as much as the subject in general, so go for it and read the books themselves – pick your modules well and the reading lists will be well worth it!

*Bearing in mind you don’t entirely depend on these sites [and aren’t too bothered about getting the first, which you probably should be so don’t listen to me)