Colin’s Cultural Corner
Akhnaten - ENO - London Coliseum
30/3/23
Here’s another cultural experience I approached with a certain amount of trepidation. Not that that was the only feeling I had before this one as I was also quite excited to see Philip Glass’s final biographical opera (the other two being on Einstein and Ghandi) as it has had rave reviews since it premiered 40 years ago and has become as legendary as the title character himself has.
We open with a series of hieroglyphs projected on to a curtain. I’m guessing that they spell out either the name Amenhotep IV or that of his father, who we see as the curtain rises, has just died.
The staging is three levels of scaffolding frame with the topmost occupied by the major Egyptian gods, the middle level rammed full of the populous and the lowest level divided into three rooms which change function throughout the piece. As we open, the middle room has the dead body of Amenhotap’s dad lying on a slab and being attended to by assorted folks dressed in white lab coats with what looked like tweed suits underneath. They are removing organs from the dead Pharaoh prior to his being mummified and entombed. Also prior to the first piece of theatrical magic when his heart is weighed against a feather on a massive balance scales in line with the Book of the Dead (I think). It’s something to do with the heart having to be lighter than a feather otherwise the departed cannot be whisked off to the realm of the gods.
Some 20 minutes into the opera the heir to the throne (only heir because his elder brother died a few years ago) makes an appearance. And what an appearance. He’s stripped of all trappings of earthly existence and is then clothed in the garbs more fitting a pharaoh/god. He doesn't sing for a further 20 minutes!
He takes his place on the throne and there’s more singing and some exquisite “dancing”. I say it’s dancing because basically it’s the most precise and deliberate muscle control I think I’ve ever seen on any stage anywhere. Various cast members contort themselves into almost yoga positions or move slowly, very slowly, across the stage. Nobody at any point moves at a pace which could be described as being remotely natural. Apart from the jugglers that is as they’ve got balls/clubs/candles etc to throw and catch and with remarkable effectiveness they provide the visual pulse of what’s going on. A little like a heart monitor, when the characters on stage are excited or fraught the jugglers throw higher, when they die they allow the balls to fall almost like a flatline.
Anyway I digress so back the story. Amenhotep’s dad led a multi-god worshipping society with Amen as the big God of them all. Amenhotep doesn’t want to do that so changes his name and places Aten at the pinnacle of the gods.
There’s some debate as to whether or not Amenhotep, who also changes his name to Akhnaten (which possibly translates as
Aten will be Served) forbids worship of the other gods or if he’s just switched out the big one at the top but for the purposes of the opera it’s suggested that he’s banned the others being worshipped.
He also marries Nefertiti at some stage but as academics can’t determine if they married before or after his ascension to the throne it’s just enough to know that they did marry. He also married quite a few other women, some of whom were his daughters so he was father to his own grandchildren. It’s also assumed that Nefertiti was the mother of his eventual successor Tutenkhaten but again there’s confusion of the truth of his parentage but here, understandably, that’s what’s presented as fact.
Anyway, as Akhnaten grows into his role as Pharaoh he moves the capital of his kingdom to a new city, Amarna, which also serves as a temple to Aten. He, and his court, become increasingly isolated from the vassals and also from his generals who are not happy as he’s neglecting the issue of border skirmishes. They blame his worship of Aten for all of this so they revolt, storm the palace, kill the him and place Tutenkhaten on the throne.
You may be more familiar with Tutenkhaten’s reginal name of Tutankhamen - which also signifies that he overturns the worship of Aten and restores Amen to the position of chief deity and brings calm to the kingdom by doing so.
The opera ends with Akhnaten on the slab his father was on at the opening and we see a class of archaeology students attending a lecture on his reign and on the recently discovered Tel-Amarna.
I’ve not really been able to comment on the singing as it’s almost beyond description. Akhnaten is beautifully voiced in counter tenor, his mum is a brilliant soprano, Nefertiti sings lower than he does and has another stunningly rich vocal tone. Various viziers and priests (one of who later becomes Pharaoh himself) are generally bass.
Music is stunning. There are what I would call ‘marches’ which set up recurring themes throughout the score and the songs themselves are either in Hebrew, Babylonian Akkadian or Egyptian with only one song, the Song to Aten, sung in English.
The Egyptian piece is from the Book of the Dead and is a poem written by Akhnaten himself.
There are a lot of musical influences going on here with nods to Indian music as well as to jazz in tone and rhythm. It’s just dawned on me that Akhnaten has an accompanying trumpet which is played only for his entrances. That marks him out as being different and revolutionary I expect.
All in all it’s a remarkable piece of theatre with a huge element of the spectacular as well as the slightly odd. What’s not in doubt is how impactful the music and the staging are together. The scenes of the storming of the palace and the murder of Akhaten are some of the most moving things I think I’ve ever seen and I’m not at all embarrassed to admit that I had a tear run down my cheek as he expired in the arms of a priest.
The audience clearly loved it and there was a long standing ovation when the curtain fell. I loved it and would gladly see it again. I’m now keen to see the other operas in the trio.
Rather than fill this up with photos etc I'd like to point you all in the direction of the Discover Opera page on the ENO website for Akhnaten as it's detailed and fascinating. 
