Spark review – Glyndebourne Youth Opera light up a terrific new show of monsters and magic

Glyndebourne, Lewes Lucy Armstrong’s family opera transports audiences to a secret world above the rooftops. It explores themes of grief and loss with a lightness of touch, and is directed, designed and performed with panache. For decades now, Glyndebourne has been setting the ba

Glyndebourne, Lewes Lucy Armstrong’s family opera transports audiences to a secret world above the rooftops. It explores themes of grief and loss with a lightness of touch, and is directed, designed and performed with panache. For decades now, Glyndebourne has been setting the bar for what a youth opera company can be.

Its latest show is Spark, a new full-length opera directed by Fiona Dunn with music by Lucy Armstrong, exploring grownup themes of grief and loss. Spark is a story of a parallel world accessed via something unlikely, so there are shades of Narnia or Wonderland. Our heroine is Clara (shades of The Nutcracker), who has panic attacks when she tries to go to school: “They talk like it’s simple,” she says in Olivia Bell’s succinct, fluent libretto, “but my chest is tightening and I can’t breathe.” We find out that her anxiety stems from her grief for her brother, and that she can no longer connect with her parents, who are having connection problems of their own.

But she can escape up the chimney to a rooftop land populated by Spark Monsters – who will help her regain her lost spark, pun intended. Continue reading...