
Janáček Brno Festival 2024 Review: The Cunning Little Vixen
Heřman’s Staging Does Not Live Up to Its Promise
By Alan Neilson(Photo: Marek Olbrzymek)
During a walk in the forests outside Brno, Rudolf Těsnohlidek and his friends came across an abandoned baby that was left to freeze under a tree. The unmarried mother was eventually found and claimed she was hoping that the child would be discovered and given a better life. Unfortunately, such incidents were not uncommon in the early years of the 20th century. The event, however, inspired Těsnohlidek to take an interest in the problem, and as a result he established the city’s annual tradition for a public Christmas tree placed in the centre of the city in which collections were made for abandoned children. He also went on to establish the Dagmar Children’s Home in the city.
Těsnohlidek, himself, had an interesting, yet ultimately tragic life. His wife shot herself dead two months into their marriage, for which he was forced to stand trial for her murder, married on two further occasions before he also committed suicide. He was a fairly successful journalist, poet and translator, with a number of publications to his name, including drafts on the cave systems of Moravia. It was his connection with Janáček, however, for which he is now largely remembered; he was the author of a novella that accompanied Stanislav Lolek’s cartoons about the vixen, Sharp Ears, which inspired Janáček to write his life-affirming work, “The Cunning Little Vixen.”
A Strong Idea That Did Not Fully Convince in Practice
Jiří Heřman, the director for the Janáček Brno Festival’s production of “The Cunning Little Vixen,” drew upon this link for his interpretation, setting it in the Dagmar Children’s Home. In theory, it was a clever idea that offers up the possibility of viewing the work from a child’s perspective with the potential of exploiting the work’s fairytale element without turning it into an opera for children. Unfortunately, in practice. it failed to live up to expectations.
It is not the easiest of operas to stage. Not only is it far too easy for directors to allow themselves to be taken in by its sentimental aspects, which can easily lead to the vixen’s death overshadowing the opera’s central life-affirming theme and undercutting Janáček’s bright, optimistic music that defines the vixen’s life force, but the frequent shifts in scenes between the animal and human worlds can often disrupt the dramatic momentum if not handled sensitively. While Heřman successfully kept a lid on the sentimental aspects, in which the sadness generated by the shooting of the vixen was exceptionally well-handled, his addition of the children’s home narrative created an extra layer of complexity that undermined the dramatic unity and, at times, made it difficult to follow.
There were, in effect, three separate strands to the presentation: the animal world and the human world, centered primarily on the vixen and the forester, and the children’s world set in Dagmar House. All three were in a constant state of interaction with actors playing multiple roles. The Forester was also the owner/manager of the children’s home, while the forester’s wife took on a governess-type role, in which she spent most of the time knitting a giant scarf while watching over the children, like an owl observing its territory, which also happened to be another role she played. It was not always obvious which character was being portrayed.
Often, the stage was crowded with children; sometimes they played the role of animals, and at other times, they simply acted out the role of the children, running around the stage with toy animals, with a keen eye on what was happening around them. The main problem was that the audience was almost encouraged to look for connections between the characters that may or may not have existed, such as the young red-headed girl, in whom the Forester took a special interest, hinting at his relationship with the Vixen. Often such speculations led to a dead end, but it was almost impossible not to indulge in them.
Heřman’s occasional use of symbolism and metaphor added to the lack of clarity, provoking further speculation and distraction. In the final scene, Christmas trees appeared, and the children lined up on the stage and turned their backs to the audience and looked at the animals standing behind them. While the allusion to the trees was clear enough, why did the children turn their backs to the audience? Were they displaying their anger at having been rejected, or was it an expression of their childlike connection to the pretend world of talking animals? Either way, the result was to add to the production’s lack of dramatic focus, in which the role of the Vixen was not always sufficiently highlighted.
The impact of Dragan Stojčevski’s sets was mixed. While the overall designs were aesthetically successful, they did not always distinguish clearly between the pub, the forest and the children’s home, which further blurred the narrative and undermined the dramatic cohesion. On the other hand, there were many imaginative aspects that worked very well indeed, not least the projection of shadowy flying insects to give the impression that they were active in changing the scenery.
The costumes, designed by Alexandra Grusková, were colorful and varied. They sat comfortably alongside Stojčevski’s sets and helped provide a strong visual quality to the staging. Much was made of masks to define the animals rather than realistic costumes. For example, the fox cubs were all dressed in orange-brown children’s coats with hoods, which worked well in connecting the world of the children to that of the animals. The human characters were costumed in early 20th century clothing.
Ivanovic’s Captures the Life-Affirming Qualities of The Score
The musical side of the production was overseen by the conductor Marko Ivanović, who elicited a sensitively paced reading from the orchestra of the Janáček Opera of the National Theatre Brno that successfully captured the dramatic tensions and momentum of the drama. Although the overture lacked warmth and detailed clarity, he quickly rectified the situation with a performance that brought out the contrasting colors and delicate textural qualities of the score. The musical interludes, in particular, were beautifully rendered and successfully drew the audience into the beauty and life-affirming qualities of the natural world.
Soprano Kateřina Kněžíková was a rebellious and dominant vixen who, despite being surrounded by children, did not allow it to descend into a sentimental portrait of a pet or fluffy toy; rather, she maintained a wild nature and was quite happy to bite the children’s legs. Her vocal performance was neatly crafted to capture the vixen’s emotions, in which she displayed an impressive degree of flexibility, a strong upper register, and a pleasing tone. Her relationship with the male fox, Gold Stripe, and her cubs was playful and loving and showed off her character in its most human form. Towards humans and other animals, she took on more animalistic behavior.
Mezzo-soprano Václava Krejčí Housková was cast in the role of Gold Stripe and produced a convincing portrait of a male in love. She possesses a lyrically attractive and secure voice with a beautiful timbre, which she used successfully to define her character. She combined well with Kněžíková to create romantically sympathetic scenes in which their voices complemented each other well.
Standout Performance from Plachetka as the Forester
It was bass-baritone Adam Plachetka as the Forester who produced the standout performance of the evening. His singing was resonant, forceful and clear, which he fashioned carefully to capture the Forester’s layered nature. He was harsh, even brutal, in his treatment of animals, yet he was also capable of displaying a reflective sentimentality. He could be hard-headed and became domineering when drunk, yet was compassionate and sensitive when dealing with the children in Dagmar House. However, there was definitely a degree of ambivalence attached to his characterization; he was playful and caring when dealing with the children, although there was the occasional behavior that did not sit well, such as when he stole one of the toys from a child or was tickling the young red-headed girl, who was definitely his favorite. It may all have been innocent, but it did provoke unwelcome thoughts that added to the complexity of the presentation.
Bass Jan Šťáva produced strong performances in the roles of the Reverend and the Badger, in which he showed off his ability to fashion characters with his excellent vocal interpretation and fine acting abilities.
Tenor Petr Levíček impressed as the nervous and lively Schoolmaster. He also played the part of the Mosquito.
Mezzo-soprano Jitka Zerhauová produced a convincing portrait of Mrs. Pásková and the Woodpecker.
The rest of the cast, consisting of sopranos Daniela Straková-Šedrlová as the Foester’s Wife and the Owl, Barbora Šancová as Pepík and the Grasshopper, Eva Svozilová as Frantík and the Cricket, baritone Tadeáš Hoza as Harašta, and bass Petr Karas as Mr. Pásek, all played their parts well.
Choirmaster Martin Buchta oversaw an excellent performance from the Chorus of the Brno Janáček Opera Company and the Brno Children’s Chorus.
Musically, it was a very satisfying performance with many excellent contributions from the soloists. The staging, however, was not wholly convincing; the underlying idea of viewing the fable through the eyes of children was indeed a good one, but dramatically it failed to realize its potential owing to the lack of clarity in the staging along with the profusion of connections, real or otherwise, that were allowed to force their way into the narrative. It would have benefitted from sharpening the focus to ensure the central narrative had precedence.