Suor Angelica is a rarely performed, one-act opera by Puccini. When played at all, it is often sandwiched together between two other short operas, Il Tabarro and Gianni Schicchi which probably explains why the work has been overlooked (Gianni Schicchi has tended to be favoured over the other two).

Director of ENO, Annalise Miskimmon, was keen to revaluate this nun story of Puccini’s and to present it as a standalone opera. In ENO’s new production of Suor Angelica, Miskimmon set this heartrending tale in Catholic Ireland of the 1960s.

Right up to the 1960s and beyond, abandoned Irish mothers, were considered ‘fallen women’ and not fit to bring up their child out of wedlock. Forced to give up their babies for adoption by their families and the convents, the distraught mothers had little option but to work, for no pay, in laundries, managed by the Catholic orders. The institutions were referred to as the Magdalene Laundries. In exchange for their unpaid work, the young women, were able to board at the convents, some, for life, many becoming nuns themselves.

In the semi-staged ENO production of Suor Angelica,  the set was configured to reflect the unholy alliance between the laundry workhouse and convent. Both shared the same space. Suspended sheets dominated the stage and nuns circulated and supervised, the novices and workers, gossiped and were admonished for misdemeanours by their superiors. A statue of the Virgin Mary presided over their daily lives to the left of the stage, the Mother superior’s desk sat on the right.

It was hard, at first, to recognise Miskimmon’s gritty vision of the Irish workhouses, for the scene we were presented with, depicted a supportive community of women.

This was in part due to Puccini whose sister was Mother Superior in a local convent to where he lived. This might have tempered his criticism of the Catholic Church. Puccini and his librettist, Giovacchino Forzano, nonetheless had a nose for good drama and the tension certainly rachets up as the focus turns to Sister Angelica and her secret torment. She has been forced to abandon her baby boy and to become a nun by her family.

Miskimmon’s slick stage direction never allowed the drama to become melodrama. It was very much a case of less is more.

Sinéad Campbell-Wallace as Sister Angelica, channelled her pain into her ‘Senza mamma’ aria’ without throwing herself around in grief. Christine Rice, the evil aunt, was perfectly cool in her blue satin coat, matching pillbox hat and gloves. When Rice surreptitiously slid a document under Angelica’s nose, for Angelica to sign away her inheritance, it was swiftly executed.

This was a touching re-imagining of Puccini’s work and a worthy project of ENO’s.

KH

ENO’s new production of Suor Angelica was performed twice on Friday 27 September 2024