What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Pagliacci – Scottish Opera ****

    Paisley Opera House (aka a tent on Seedhill Playing Fields in Paisley)

    Scottish Opera’s summer show in Paisley is a completely immersive bundle of fun that manages to be innovative and hugely entertaining.

    It isn’t difficult to see where the idea of putting this show on in a big tent comes from. Pagliacci (The Clowns) is all about a troop of performing players coming to town. It just happened that this troop had turned up in Paisley and were putting on a show for a local gala day – the Sma’ Shot festivities.

    There was a strong sense of local festival as soon as one entered the tent, with a range of sideshows – a magician, fortune teller and a real Punch and Judy show alongside games like Pin The Tail on the Donkey. It was a brave decision on the part of Scottish Opera to have an actual donkey wandering around too, given the recent debacle of the Eugene Onegin’s horse. However, no-one disgraced themselves and a good time was had by all, not least the three people who won the raffle and got to conduct the orchestra in some well-known operatic overtures.

    By the time the singing started, it felt as though the show had been going on for some time.

    With all the fun of the fair going on all around, the danger was that the singing might not matter that much. Fortunately this was a strong cast and in fact the singing was excellent. Particular praise must go to Ronald Samm for his utterly superb Vesti la guibba that ended the first act. The fact that he was surrounded at close quarters by the audience, who were invited to move about the tent to wherever the action was, didn’t distract him from an astonishing display of heartbroken anguish.

    A huge chorus of both amateur and professional singers were mingling with the audience throughout most of the production and it was genuinely thrilling for the singing and the action to break out all around you as you tried, generally unsuccessfully, to work out what might happen next. High points included the entrance procession of the players and the sudden, stunning reveal of the stage (made out of a road-truck) for them to play on in the second half.

    It is to the director, Bill Bankes-Jones’s credit that the pitiful tragedy of scorned love was perfectly balanced with the comedy and high jinks of a show that was hell bent on blowing away even the most jaded cynicism. By the end of the evening, what had we witnessed? A fun filled tragedy? A comedy beset by human misery? Both, surely, and more.

    One hour 40 minutes is a bit long for a promenade performance, particularly as the audience didn’t move about quite as much as I suspect they were expected to do on what was a very hot July evening. However, the standing about all felt well worth it for a surprise summer hit.

    The Orchestra of Scottish Opera were about the only ones who got to sit down all night and, apart from some repeated split notes in the brass section were on generally good form under Stuart Stratford.

    All in all it seems like a shame that this show will play for a run of just three performances. It was an enormous effort for a relatively small audience and could easily have sustained a longer run.

    The troop of performing players that rolled up into Paisley done good.

    Done very good indeed.

    Rating: ★★★★☆

    This review first appeared at Scene Alba:
    https://www.facebook.com/scenealba/posts/2091329810937212

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8 responses to “We love you, American Episcopalians!”

  1. June Butler Avatar
    June Butler

    The dear Scottish bishops who consecrated Samuel Seabury have my gratitude forever, and our Prayer Book is greatly enriched by the inclusion of the Epiclesis from the Scottish Rite.

    Reply
  2. Bro David Avatar
    Bro David

    And the heritage was passed on as my home church, the la Iglasia Anglicana de Mexico, being a daughter of TEC basically uses the Spanish language TEC prayerbook (with epiclesis), apropriately modified, as our church’s liturgy.

    I think that the US church was not trying to be THE Episcopal Church, but, the generic Episcopal Church in the short name, as opposed to the Protestant Episocopal Church of the United States of America, which is the legal title. And TEC was trying to represent the church’s full constituency, which is not as a national Anglican church, as is the Anglican Church of Canada, or a regional Anglican church, as is la Iglesia Anglicana de la Region Central de America, but a multinational church with dioceses in many countries. I’m sure that you would squirm a bit to be called the Scotland-based Episcopal Church. It’s not cool or comfortable to say.

    Are there Scottish Episcopal churches that aren’t technically part of Scotland geo-politically?

    Reply
    1. Kelvin Avatar
      Kelvin

      There are no Scottish Episcopal Churches that are not in Scotland. (Though I’d dearly love to invade a well known local provincial neighbour).

      It may be a bit squirmy to refer to it as the US-based Episcopal Church but it is quite hard to simply use The Episcopal Church on a blog read in Scotland. That name just doesn’t make any sense here as it is what many people here would call the Scottish Episcopal Church.

      Unfortunately, the Protestant Episcopal Church’s renaming of itself which was for good reason to avoid being seen as US-centric and imperial reads rather badly over here.

      Reply
      1. Bro David Avatar
        Bro David

        Since I don’t much understand the relationship of all the tiny islands around Great Britain and Ireland I wasn’t sure.

        Too bad we aren’t in the day when it was just the Church.

        Reply
  3. Father Ron Smith Avatar
    Father Ron Smith

    Thank you, Father Kelvin, for this reminder of an historic event of some special note. In the present climate of unrest in the Anglican world, it is good to note that Scotland and the U.S.A. have a precious link through their shared episcopal provenance that is not directly originated (by their own default) by the mother Church of England. This spirit of independence emphasizes the infinite variety of our shared Anglican reformed catholicity. A Unity in Diversity!

    Reply
  4. AnnaMarie Hoos Avatar
    AnnaMarie Hoos

    Thank you, Kelvin, for remembering us. May the bonds of affection always flow both ways.

    Those reading this thread might enjoy seeing the full de Rosen mural from which Kelvin took the detail above, which is on the north wall of the Nave in Grace Cathedral, San Francisco:

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/brycewgarner/8964371666/

    Y’all come visit.

    Reply
  5. Ann Fontaine Avatar
    Ann Fontaine

    Thank you Thank you. That point in the Eucharist is the most important for me as a priest – I feel like I am standing in the center of time — all before and all after flowing through those of us gathered at that moment.

    Reply
  6. Eamonn Avatar
    Eamonn

    The Scottish Episcopal Church did not invent the epiclesis, but adopted it from various ancient Eastern rites. So both the Scottish and American Churches could be said to be more in touch with the liturgical roots of eucharistic worship than those churches who use variants of the Reformation prayer-books.

    Reply

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