The Indian Queen

According to American director Peter Sellars, the 45 minutes of fragments that Henry Purcell left for his final unfinished opera ‘The Indian Queen’ were hardly enough to mount a major production (even though Purcell’s masterpiece ‘Dido and Aeneas’ is just 50 minutes), and the libretto by John Dryden was ‘bizarre’. Something extra, he believed, was needed to stage it for English National Opera.

Consequently, the maverick director has combined the original score with Purcell hymns and insertion arias (such as ‘Hear My Prayer’ and ‘Music for A While’) and an impassioned reading of excerpts from Rosario Aguilar’s novel ‘The Lost Chronicles of Terra Firma’, which moves the action forward to the Mayans’ confrontation with the Spanish. Throw in a contemporary take on Mayan dances from choreographer Christopher Williams and designs in the Mayan idiom from Chicano artist Gronk, and the result is a greatly entertaining realisation of Purcell’s ‘torso’ of a show.

Though with the performance weighing in at over three hours, the additional limbs dominate the original material. Is it simply too much of a good thing?
Actress Maritxell Carrero confidently acts as narrator, describing the exploits of Teculihuatzin, the titular princess. She marries a violent Spanish conquistador who later rejects her but adores their daughter, shielding her from his brutality.

In the title role, Julia Bullock gives a superb performance both dramatically and vocally, her full, rich soprano giving vent to her oppression, while Noah Stewart takes the part of the foreign husband showing off both his deep tenor and buff physique. But in a night where there is much to praise, vocally, it is soprano Lucy Crowe’s purity of tone that really shines in the role of Doña Isabel.