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The cast of Festen at the Royal Opera | Photo: Marc Brenner

‘It’s gone quiet – that’s because everyone’s enjoying their food!’ We can all agree that the general British public can be grating. But rarely is this irritation projected onto an opera stage and set to music with such vivid exposition. Soup flavours are requested, small talk commences and we greet each other often with blinding falsity.

But the pull for Mark Anthony Turnage’s Festen – especially for those not familiar with the 1998 Danish film by Thomas Vinterberg – was the composer’s compelling operatic legacy, alongside the stellar casting that this world premiere was blessed with.

It’s a story told around the rape accusation of a father by his son (the mesmerising Allan Clayton) during the father’s 60th birthday party. The party ensues in a family-run hotel and exposes the darker side to a family wracked with trauma. It’s a tricky subject that held parallels with the Menendez Brother’s case in the USA and, operatically, with the gaslighting of the villagers in Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes.

Turnage’s score is patient with its power. The familiar disjunct time signatures and rhythmic addictions are imbued with mocking references; a birthday cake G&S-esque sea shanty, a wild, dissonant conga, chanting and jazz piano all combine in one audible feast.

This opera is as much about trauma, nostalgia and family dynamics as it is about mob culture. Though genius in scoring chorus work for the loathable party, some solo arias wanted for greater reflective space. As the son Christian (Allan Clayton) bears his soul and tells the story of his rape, Turnage loses some of the impact with what felt like durdge-like filler. Lost again was the ‘green sofa scene’ towards the end of the opera as the ghost of Linda – the twin of Christian who died by suicide shortly before – returns to sing a mocking ballad on Julian of Norwich ‘all shall be well’, which fell entirely flat.

Richard Jones’s direction merged brilliantly with Turnage’s score, splitting the stage at first in three parts side-to-side and then two parts back-to-front. Visually, the hotel setting was eerily done and skirt-suited women of the chorus gave an air of blind-eye’d conservatism. The movement between reality and denial was strengthened by two huge pauses of total silence, the second followed by the master of ceremonies, Helmut (Thomas Oliemans) screaming ‘get the bloody music on!’

Rosie Aldridge as Else, John Tomlinson as Grandpa and Natalya Romaniw as Helena in Festen at the Royal Opera | Photo: Marc Brenner

Orchestrally Turnage doesn't make it easy, and conductor Ed Gardner initially had trouble taming the wildness required by the orchestra. It was as much an opera for solo instruments, with beautiful moments for clarinet, lower strings and solo cello. Orchestral interludes punctuated the frequent changes of scene, with a projected screen illuminating a growing green sofa – bigger and closer at each iteration. 

The casting ended up being a mixed affair with Finley and Clayton giving outstanding performances, both musically and dramatically. Stéphane Degout also, as the youngest son Michael, was consistently captivating. Turnage didn’t offer the women quite as much to chew on, with the youngest daughter Helena, played by Natalya Romaniw, not showing her best in tricky sustained lines at an odd register. Philippa Boyle as Michael’s wife Mette had more of a chance to shine, with the bickering hotel room scene going down a complete treat and Rosie Aldridge as Else was vocally completely captivating, though physically sometimes stiff and somewhat unnatural in her breakdown towards the opera’s end.

I wanted to feel more at the opera’s ending. That the culture of fear and silence that so many of us are aware of was dramatically maintained. We were instead greeted by a full-circle hotel ‘check-out’ scene, with a bloodied Clayton’s state ignored by hotel guests. I understand the intention, but Turnage needed to leave us with something more. Still, if the risk of a bland ending was to highlight the pain of gaslighting, then I recognise its purpose and, though at times a difficult watch, it’s certain Festen showed the very genius of which this astounding composer is capable.

Until 27 February rbo.org