Norma at the Irish National Opera: "This is possibly going to be one of INO’s best shows ever"

Few operas carry the weight of expectation that Bellini’s Norma does. Since its premiere at the iconic La Scala in Milan in 1831, it has stood at the pinnacle of the bel canto tradition, thanks to its musical beauty and captivating title role of a Druidic high priestess torn between love, duty and sacrifice, which demands a voice of almost supernatural scale.

This May, Irish National Opera are bringing their own production to Irish audiences, led by Kilkenny native Orpha Phelan. After moving to London and studying arts criticism, she fell in love with opera’s power to capture the full breadth of emotive storytelling. Fast forward and she’s an award-winning director who works at the highest level of the form.

And she’s relishing the challenge to put her own spin on Norma.

“Norma is on a pedestal,” she says. “Any opera buff has a preconception of what a production of Norma looks like. It’s going to be a challenge to direct something often regarded as the pinnacle of the whole bel canto genre, so I’m looking forward to doing something quite unique with it.”

That uniqueness begins with the setting. The original is set in ancient Gaul, a world which Phelan notes there is little art or reference to draw from, leading her to transplant the action to a post-apocalyptic near-future.

“Rather than going way into the past into a place that we don’t really understand or identify with, there is a place just around the corner that we’re constantly being told we’re on the verge of,” she explains.“Let’s just say that we are bombarded with information about how the world is going wrong. Our news and our current affairs programmes are full of leaders making decisions which put our lives in jeopardy. We’ve got devastating climate change and we’ve got AI, which some of us are frightened into thinking will be the end of us. It’s not surprising then that amongst all of this despair, we find the need to cling to some hope in some way, shape or form. When we think of a world in a desperate place, we can understand why a spiritual leader like Norma would have an appeal, and how her faith would keep people going."

Also central to Phelan’s vision is a feminist reclamation of the title character. In her eyes, the character of Norma has too often been staged as hysterical and irrational, a tendency that could be traced back to the fact that the librettist, composer and author of the source play were all men.

“There was a sense at the time of, ‘Women are like this and they behave like that,’” Phelan says. “It’s really important to me that we present Norma as a rational, thinking person. I prefer the idea of her sacrificing herself, not because she’s been betrayed by a man, but because she understands her death is necessary to move the situation forward. That’s what she believes is the best thing for her family and her people.

“It’s fair to say this production will be drawing on powerful women throughout history. Like Cleopatra, who was known for her intelligence and diplomacy and political acumen. She’s a symbol of feminine power. Then I was looking at Boudica, who battled the powerful Roman Empire. I looked at Joan of Arc and even Grace O’Malley.”

Bringing this vision to life is a cast of real quality. Georgian soprano Salome Jicia takes the title role, Australian soprano Siobhan Stagg sings Adalgisa – the younger priestess whose bond with Norma forms the emotional spine of the opera – and tenor Mario Chang completes the triangle as their mutual lover Pollione.

In the pit meanwhile, is Maurizio Benini, a critically acclaimed conductor whose CV boasts productions at some of the world’s leading opera houses.

“To have somebody like that come to work with Irish National Opera puts it on another sort of scale,” Phelan says. “His stomping ground is the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Covent Garden and La Scala. Certainly our singers are similar. So this is possibly going to be one of INO’s best shows ever.”

• Irish National Opera’s Norma runs from May 24 – June 6, with dates in Dublin, Wexford, and Cork. Tickets are on sale now. For more information visit irishnationalopera.ie.