She is a bitchy typhoid bitch, that Madam Scrooge, the homeless in Rotterdamare in complete agreement. Some have been personally helped into the gutter byher. She herself thinks she is a good businesswoman. Are you unable to repayyour loan on time? Come on, then you get some deferral – at a considerablyhigher interest rate.
Opera Spanga makes with Madame Scrooge a modern adaptation of CharlesDickens’ Christmas classic A Christmas Carol. Are the summer performances ina tent in the Frisian town of Spanga, now the company plays in the old dairyfactory of neighboring Langelille. This makes it a chamber opera: there isroom for a modest stage, the musicians are seated in a small side room.
That doesn’t have to spoil the fun with such a beloved piece. In times ofneoliberalism, modernization is even almost obvious. It is a pity then thatthe original work is supposed to be so well known that much has been lost,which made it a successful story. The miser Scrooge receives a visit onChristmas Eve from his dead business partner Jacob Marley, who drags along aheavy chain as punishment for his lust for money while alive. The specterwarns Scrooge that he must mend his ways or an even heavier chain awaits him.Then three Christmas spirits pass by: from past, present and future. They makeScrooge realize that there is more than just money.
The novella has been humorously adapted in Langelille. For example, all themain characters are now women (Ebenezer Scrooge becomes Madam Ebe Scrooge,Marley gets a suit, Scrooge’s assistant Bob becomes Bo, Cousin Fred becomesCousin Isabelle), Marley’s necklace has been replaced by an uncontrollableitch she infects Scrooge with, and the madam lives in a gold-rimmed apartmentcomplete with a safe and voice assistant Alexa.
Madam Scrooge (Wivineke van Groningen, left) is visited by the ghost of herformer business partner Marley (Klara Uleman), in Opera Spanga’s ‘MadamScrooge’. Photo Dinand van der Wal
Homeless people in Rotterdam (with Klara Uleman in the middle) find commonground in their hatred for Madam Scrooge. Photo Dinand van der Wal
Comic timing
But how did Scrooge go from empathetic maid to hard-hearted penny-teller inher past? With Dickens it is a combination of a dismal boarding school youth,a lost love and the death of Scrooge’s sister. At Opera Spanga, only theheartbreak remains. Did the other girl’s crush die, or did Ebe get scared awayfrom a lesbian relationship that was not accepted in the countryside of heryouth? The spectator can fill it in himself.
Even after the second trip, with the spirit of the present, Scrooge hardlyseems touched; she mumbles something to herself that she might also be able togive. But that word lingers several times’ no- ‘hanging in her throat,’-vun ‘ vanishes into irrepressible nausea. That scene is very funny again,because Wivineke van Groningen continues to play her Scrooge seriously withexcellent comic timing: the nastier the person, the funnier the situation.
The conversion from resentful miser to generous giver follows too suddenly. Inthis performance during Scrooge’s journey with the spirit of the future, nogossip about a first mysterious miserly deceased followed by theconfrontational gravestone with the name ‘Scrooge’, or the death of Tiny Tim.So how madam regains her empathy remains obscure. That makes _Madame Scrooge_what flat.
Perhaps the makers thought that she is steered in the right direction by thesinging and acting of the other characters, because that is fine. In additionto Scrooge, there are two singers in multiple roles (Klara Uleman as a tramp,Marley and the three ghosts; Merlijn Runia as Bo, Isabelle and first loveOlga) and four men who sing Rotterdammers, farmers, Buddhist monks and Timmyand his brothers. A sparse line-up that nevertheless forms a full-fledgedcast. The music trio is absolutely admirable: I never knew that a cello,clarinet and accordion could form a whole orchestra together. The closing song’We thank the spirits that Scrooge can finally give’ becomes a beautifulChristmas song thanks to this collective.
Opera
Opera Spanga: Madam Scrooge Directed by: Corina van Eijk. Composition andmusical direction: Tjalling Wijnstra. Seen: 17/12. Until 8/1/23 in the olddairy factory in Langelille. Inl: operaspanga.nl
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