The Canadian Opera Company are currently presenting Leos Janacek’s opera The Cunning Little Vixen. This flamboyantly theatrical production is among the most colourful things I’ve ever seen on a stage.

Vixen is suitable for children and makes a terrific first opera. Six performances remain February 3, 8, 10, 13, 14, 16 of a work that premiered exactly one hundred years ago.

This light-hearted work may remind you of The Nutcracker for the animals and children in the story, featuring not just the COC chorus and orchestra but also prominent work by the Canadian Children’s Opera Company.

Directed by Jamie Manton this production from English National Opera features sets and costumes designed by Tom Scutt.

It’s timely as these words from the COC website suggest:
When a forest gamekeeper traps a fox and attempts to domesticate her, their encounter leads to a poignant reflection on the natural cycle of life and death, as well as our relationship with the planet. This inspiring opera invites audiences to reflect on the advancing toll of climate change and the importance of cultivating a harmonious interrelationship with the natural world.

It’s a different planet now. Yes exploitation of natural resources was the key to the exploration of Canada, and the fur trade was one of the key industries that built our country: but since the 1980s or 90s, fur is not just out of fashion but even illegal in places. Janacek’s opera doesn’t take sides, showing us mostly those who would exploit nature, and the consequences for the natural world, making for a very balanced meditation on forest life. It doesn’t preach.

Based on stories by Rudolf Tesnohlidek serialized with illustrations in a newspaper, Janacek wrote his own libretto, a work so closely associated with him that music from the final scene would be played at his funeral.

While Manton and Scutt fill the stage with a great deal of movement and brilliant colours, they don’t opt for a realistic presentation. It’s not Disney nor even Maurice Sendak (who designed the last version of this opera seen here). There’s a Brechtian aspect to the staging and design, reminding us regularly that no we’re not seeing a realistic presentation. When the fox and the vixen get intimate, they take off their headpieces that include their fake ears. It’s simultaneously a reminder that the theatre is not real life, yet invites us to see the emotions of the players under those costumes. This is a production that chooses not to create illusions but instead asks you to be an imaginative partner, thinking and feeling with the performers.

A constant feature of the stage picture is found in a banner that unrolls throughout the opera, for me inducing tears on the first page of the score. Just as the opera began with illustrated stories on newspaper pages, so too this presentation before us. Almost every picture accompanying this review shows some of the images, although the best ones weren’t captured by the COC photographer. They represent a show within the show, or in a real sense, they are where the story originates. The sparseness of the set pieces and the colourful costumes encourage us to keep looking back up at the story-telling banner.

Jane Archibald was a crowd favorite as Sharp-ears the Vixen. I don’t think I’ve ever heard her sing off pitch, although this time it was more a matter of her energetic physical portrayal as her impeccable vocalism.

Christopher Purves is the forester, truly an everyman especially in the last act. Purves’s appearance is older and crustier than other foresters I’ve seen, which works for me being somewhat crusty myself. In an opera so preoccupied with the passage of time and renewal, it’s that much more poignant seeing someone to whom I can relate so easily. In my recent interview with Adam Klein, the word “agism” was a huge topic, observing that singers seem to be shown the door far too soon nowadays, a problem especially pressing when you need someone onstage to play the leading roles who aren’t young lovers. Yet in fairness when I look it up, aha! Purves is much younger than I, and in fact is a good actor, rather than actually being old. The portrayal was gruff at times, but full of delicacy especially in that amazing last scene.

Vixen is an ensemble show, led ably as usual by COC’s resident music director Johannes Debus. The many chorus moments and children’s solos were lovingly presented, never covered by the orchestra and beautifully articulated.

The fox who romances and then marries Sharp-ears the vixen was Ema Nikolovska, clearly enjoying herself. The voices contrast wonderfully but blended perfectly.

Alex Halliday was a sympathetic Poacher, in a role that can be played much darker. But he is just trying to survive, or to find a fur for his girlfriend.

The animals are all great fun. As a tenor I was sympathetic to what happens to Adam Luther’s strutting rooster, seemingly punished for having superb high notes. Carolyn Sproule as the dog has the wackiest costume of the night.

I’m delighted to see that the roles are shuffled for the relaxed performance February 13th , Karoline Podolak singing Sharpears for Jane Archibald and Joel Allison as the Forester for Christopher Purves. That gives the COC a ready cast in the event that anyone gets sick. We have been seeing a lot of illness and cancellations, so while people may behave as though the pandemic is over, it’s especially tough for singers.

This is an opera where you can see how much fun the players are having, and maybe wish you could be up on stage with them yourself. It feels very short, and I didn’t want it to end.