Review: The Great Wave – Edinburgh Festival Theatre

‘The Great Wave’ is a brand-new opera about the life of the Japanese artist formerly known as Hokusai, best known for his views of Mount Fuji and the ubiquitous ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’—an image you’ve probably owned at one time or another in poster, tea towel, birthday card, or some other form. It’s instantly recognisable, whether or not you can remember the artist’s name. It transpires he kept changing it anyway, so don’t feel too bad about not knowing.

This world premiere production is a coup for Scottish Opera, boasting nigh-on sell-out audiences for each of its four performances (two in Glasgow and two in Edinburgh) so far.

A co-production between Scottish Opera and KAJIMOTO, a Japanese classical music management company, it enjoys support from both Scottish and Japanese funders. It was heavily promoted before the opening nights; I’d heard the hype and was genuinely excited.

Hands up, I’m no opera buff, but alongside the familiar arias and choruses, I’ve long been a fan of John Adams’ Nixon in China and was looking forward to another modern opera.

A co-production between Scottish Opera and KAJIMOTO, a Japanese classical music management company, it enjoys support from both Scottish and Japanese funders. It was heavily promoted before the opening nights; I’d heard the hype and was genuinely excited.

The sets—designed by ‘scenographer’ Junpei Kiz—are monumental and striking, though there were a couple of times I feared for their stability. The opening scene plays out silently, with the large centrepiece almost dwarfing some of the cast. Still, I loved the scenery, and the video projections designed by Sho Yamaguchi were mesmerisingly beautiful.

The costumes, designed by Kayo Takahashi Deschene, were likely meant to be somewhat ‘timeless’, mixing traditional elements with a generally modern edge. Technically, many looked complex and almost origami-inspired. Most were monochrome until the end, where the introduction of ‘Prussian Blue’ echoed the storyline. I heard mixed reactions to the wardrobe, but the ‘onesies’ were the standout ‘what on earth?’ items, baffling the audience even when they transformed from white to blue. In general, I could have done without all the belts, buckles, and pockets, which made Õi look like the principal boy in a pantomime.

English but not as we know it

The whole opera was sung in English, with English surtitles. I would have preferred it sung in Japanese with English surtitles, as I found the sung words difficult to understand—and some were frankly absurd. Yelling “Stupid boy!” at a grandson who has gambled away the family’s meagre wealth and is being pursued for his ‘pound of flesh’ hardly fits for an audience intimately familiar with the Dad’s Army catchphrase. I found the libretto uninspiring and quite disappointing.

**Daisuke Ohyama (Katsushika Hokusai) in Scottish Opera’s production of The Great Wave. Credit Mihaela Bodlovic.**

The repetitive nature of many operatic works requires—for me, at least—words that can withstand that repetition without becoming jarring. Librettist Harry Ross is described in the programme as ‘a multidisciplinary artist’ and has collaborated with composer Dai Fujikura previously on A Dream of Armageddon, but I am not sure he has quite mastered this craft yet, despite his many other credentials.

The music itself, composed by Fujikura, is predictably modern yet—like the costumes—resonates with older traditions. I loved the final chorus piece, redolent of a Greek tragedy. The two main soloists, Daisuke Ohyama (baritone) and Julieth Lozano Rolong (soprano), have superb voices, but the soprano part in particular was taxing and not always easy to listen to. No disrespect to Lozano Rolong; it is just a difficult score at times. Creating new work that pleases the tastes of audiences from two cultures while fulfilling the composer’s intentions is no mean feat. For the most part, I felt it was successful, and its difficulty ought to be applauded.

The Orchestra of Scottish Opera, led by Music Director Stuart Stratford, was superb. They appeared to have no difficulty with this somewhat avant-garde piece, and shakuhachi (traditional Japanese flute) player Shozan Hasegawa lent a beautifully wistful edge, especially towards the end of the opera. This was much appreciated and applauded by the audience.

Puppets and partial success

And who will forget the dragon and tiger ‘puppets’ from the dream sequence in the final scene? They were huge and beautiful, sinuously manoeuvred around the set and singers by members of the actor/dancer cast. They too deserve a mention, alongside choreographer Akiko Kitamura and props designer Eri Fukasawa. Really good work all round.

According to the programme notes, Director Satoshi Miyagi combines ‘contemporary textual interpretations with physical techniques and styles of Asian theatre’ and ‘invites… theatrical works from around the world that cast a sharp eye on contemporary society with a focus on creating theatre as a window to view the world.’ Did he succeed here? Partly, at least. The fusion of East and West is best seen in the universal themes depicted in the opera.

Creating new work that pleases the tastes of audiences from two cultures while fulfilling the composer’s intentions is no mean feat. For the most part, I felt it was successful, and its difficulty ought to be applauded.

We certainly come away understanding the work of this Japanese artist in a deeper way, discarding the assumption that Hokusai was as famous and well-regarded in his own time as he has been by Western audiences for decades.

It won’t be to everyone’s taste, and we won’t be humming the tunes as we go on our way, but I applaud the innovation and the obvious amount of hard work every single person associated with this production has put in—not least the stagehands.

Oh, and the programme—what a beauty! It’s essentially a little 80-page book, packed with so much information, background, historical and artistic material, and images that I’ll be browsing through it for a long time to come. Though I usually don’t buy a programme anymore (too many trees…), this one is truly wonderful and will be staying on my bookshelf.

Featured Image: Julieth Lozano Rolong (Ōi) and Dan Armstrong (Spirit of Hokusai) in Scottish Opera’s production of The Great Wave. Credit Mihaela Bodlovic