Bohuslav Martinu's final opera, The Greek Passion, is a bold season-opener for the Royal Opera. The supertitle machine gets a well-deserved break: this love child of Czech composer Martinu and Greek novelist Nikos Kazantzakis was written in plain English.
The story, too, adeptly makes drama of simplicity: a group of displaced refugees arrive in an insular Greek village and the only villagers who react with any sympathy are the ones cast as Jesus and the Apostles in the annual Passion play.
If Martinu's village authorities are uniformly sinister and the refugees unfalteringly saintly, director David Pountney does his best to make humans of them all.
In Sir Charles Mackerras's hands, the reconstructed 1957 version of the score sounds natural and authoritative, alternating starkness and incredible beauty, using folk instruments and orthodox liturgical elements to create an atmosphere that grabs you and draws you right in.
Sterling acting and splendid diction abound from cast and chorus alike: Peter Sidhom and Sir Willard White are compelling as opposing priests Grigoris and Fotis and Marie McLaughlin is a sensual Katerina. And, in a small casting miracle, the Apostles' group includes several tenors who can act.
This production thoroughly deserves the Olivier award it won in 2000: see it and you will know why.
In rep until Oct 1 (next perf tomorrow), Royal Opera House, Bow Street WC2, 7.30pm, £4 to £50. Tel: 020 7304 4000. www.royalopera.org Tube: Covent Garden
The Greek Passion
