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Opera review: Flight, Her Majesty’s Theatre

State Opera South Australia’s ‘Flight’ is opera for our times.

9 May 2025 17:53

Peter Burdon

British countertenor James Laing as the Refugee in State Opera South Australia's 2025 production, 'Flight'. A distressed-looking man dressed in slightly dishevelled, mostly brown clothing, stands in an airport terminal between two rows of uncomfortable-looking metal and plastic seats. The blue-lit panelled wall behind him evokes the bars of a prison cell, while four curving beams of light projected against the walls increase the impression of this man being trapped or avoiding the spotlight.

Performing Arts

British countertenor James Laing as the Refugee in State Opera South Australia’s 2025 production, ‘Flight’. Photo: Andrew Beveridge.

A cancelled flight might not spring off the page as the inspiration for an opera, but once you’ve experienced composer Jonathan Dove’s terrific 1998 Flight, you’ll surely change your mind.

What Dove (with librettist April De Angelis) has done is focus on just a few of those affected, whose inconveniences range from the trivial to the tremendous, and put it into the context of a real tragedy.

There is a couple, heading off on a diplomatic posting. Another couple off for a holiday in the sun. A woman waiting for a friend. The Controller, ever-watchful and all-seeing from a spectacular glass eyrie high above the concourse. The Immigration Officer, who applies the rules without fear or favour.

And, at the heart of it all, a Refugee. He has been in this airport quite literally for years, undocumented and unable to leave, begging for money and bin-diving for scraps of food, all the while evading the watchful eye of the authorities.

We begin with the Refugee and the Controller. ‘Look! Up there,’ cries countertenor James Laing, who positively inhabits the tragic role of the Refugee. The Controller, coloratura soprano Anna Voshege, is in stratospheric territory in her first few phrases, in a most accomplished performance.

The cast of State Opera South Australia's 2025 production 'Flight'. A large group of performers stand on stage, which is designed to look like a nondescript airport. A final figure, The Controller, stands in a glass-walled balcony at the top of the photograph, as if monitoring everyone below. — The cast of State Opera South Australia’s 2025 production ‘Flight’. Photo: Andrew Beveridge.

And so we meet the couples. Tina (Nina Korbe) and Bill (Henry Choo) are bright and bubbly, off for some fun in the sun. But we soon discover it’s a desperate bid to rekindle a spark of romance. The Older Woman (Cherie Boogaart), dark glasses and a worried carriage, waiting not for a friend but for a young lover. (‘Do I look conspicuous?’ she sings.)

Minskman (Jeremy Tatchell) and Minskwoman (Fiona McArdle) are off to save the world with diplomacy, except that she doesn’t want to go. Hers is a particularly good character, and gives the first glimpse of tragedy when, afraid to take the plane, she sits forlornly singing, ‘What have I done?’

Fluttering around the couples are two delicious characters, the Stewardess (Ashlyn Tymms) and the Steward (Samuel Dale Johnson), who pass like ships in the night but never lose the opportunity for a kiss, a cuddle, or something much more comprehensive, whenever time or occasion permits.

The Refugee is always present, interacting, watching, hiding.

A huge storm grounds all the flights and brings everyone together in the darkened terminal. It is a troubled night, but as dawn breaks, and the flights resume, perhaps there is hope. For most, yes. But not for the Refugee, and his story in the gut-wrenching ‘Dawn, still darkness…’ towards the very end of the opera is truly heartbreaking.

Read: Theatre review: Thirst, Subiaco Arts Centre

Dove’s operatic works are vocally taxing, and the singers all coped well with his considerable demands. In addition to Laing and Voshege, particular mention must be made of Fiona McArdle whose Minskwoman role runs the emotional and vocal gamut, and Teddy Tahu Rhodes whose Immigration Officer, another brooding presence, has gravity and depth.

Australian-born, UK-based director Stephen Barlow has led a team effort, production-wise, that is a winning mix. The often-tedious neutrality of an airport is beautifully realised, with just a few props providing versatility without competing with the performers. The projections by Jack Henry James are especially fine.

British conductor Charlotte Corderoy conducted the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra with razor-sharp attention to detail in a really complex score.

Flight
A Scottish Opera production presented by State Opera South Australia
With Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Charlotte Corderoy
Director: Stephen Barlow
Designer: Andrew Riley
Lighting Designer: Richard Howell
Choreographer: Sam Spencer-Lane
Projection Designer: Jack Henry James
Fight Director: Raymond Short
Costume Realiser: Tracey Richardson
Lighting Realiser: Mark Oakley
Intimacy Coordinator: Jo Stone

Cast:
The Refugee: James Laing
The Controller: Anna Voshege
Tina: Nina Korbe
Bill: Henry Choo
The Older Woman: Cherie Boogaart
The Stewardess: Ashlyn Tymms
The Steward: Samuel Dale Johnson
The Minskman: Jeremy Tatchell
The Minskwoman: Fiona McArdle
The Immigration Officer: Teddy Tahu Rhodes

Tickets: $67.50 – $159 ($35 for those under 30 years of age)
Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide
8-10 May 2025

Peter Burdon

Peter Burdon has been ‘scribbling in the dark’ for nearly 30 years, first in the street press and for more than 20 years as a leading contributor to The Advertiser, both as a performing arts critic and a features writer. He is active nationally as a peer and grant assessor and judge across the performing arts, and is Chair of the Adelaide Critics Circle Inc. He is an experienced musicologist and occasionally comes out of the shadows to dabble in chamber music.