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With
The Handmaid's Tale, the Danish composer Poul Ruders has created a powerful opera that presents the bleakest of futures for mankind. Based on a novel by Margaret Atwood, Ruders uses an extensive musical vocabulary to portray the horrors of a society in which women living in sin or second marriages are forced to become "handmaids" who are sent to childless families to be impregnated. This society, Gilead, forms the backdrop on which Ruders and his librettist Paul Bentley can pose the most uncomfortable of questions. Ruders' orchestral colours are frequently hyper-expressionist, as befits a story of the utmost oppression. The dramatic effectiveness of the piece is never in doubt: the frequent flash-backs contextualise and accentuate the ongoing drama. Ruders draws on a vast range of techniques to create this futuristic world.
The Handmaid's Tale is a draining experience, but one which is nevertheless stimulating. One is left with the highest sense of admiration for Ruders' seemingly endless invention. Marianne Rorholm, in the main role of Offred, is astonishing in her stamina and involvement, projecting all the vulnerability and hopelessness of the central character. There is not a single weak link in the cast of this performance, recorded live in March 2000.
The Handmaid's Tale is strongly recommended, but not to the faint-hearted. --
Colin Clarke
