From male intimacy to modern excess, director Stephen Barlow reveals how NZ Opera is reimagining Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers for a 21st-century audience
Two men, one woman, an impossible pact and one of the most famous male duets ever written. On the surface, Georges Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers has all the ingredients of a classic operatic love triangle. Look a little closer at the relationship between its two male leads, however, and things become considerably more interesting.
“There’s definitely a bromance going on between them!” Australian director Stephen Barlow tells YOUR EX ahead of his new production for NZ Opera.
Nadir and Zurga are old friends whose relationship is tested when they discover they are both in love with the same woman, Léïla. For Barlow, their bond encompasses loyalty, envy, jealousy and sacrifice, with an imbalance that makes their relationship dramatically compelling.
“Zurga is envious, maybe even jealous, of Nadir, and part of his love for him is wishing he could be like him,” Barlow says. “However, I am not sure those feelings are reciprocated by Nadir.”
That intensity has seen some productions push Nadir and Zurga’s friendship towards romantic or homoerotic territory. Barlow, who is gay, certainly sees room for audiences to interpret it that way.
“A homoerotic reading of the duet is certainly a valid response, although obviously not what was intended in 1863!” he says.
At the same time, he is wary of imposing sexuality on the relationship simply because he can.
“As a gay man, I’m wary of hijacking this incredible moment to push a gay agenda or subtext for its own sake. My job is to tell a story, the story, with the music and words as my guide, but also collaborating with the two performers playing these roles and taking into account their instincts and insight.”
At the centre of that relationship is “Au fond du temple saint”, the soaring duet that has transcended The Pearl Fishers itself to become one of opera’s most recognisable pieces.
Barlow calls its melody a “monumental earworm”, but believes its enduring power also comes from the unusual intimacy shared between two male characters.
In 19th-century opera, he explains, a tenor and baritone singing together would more commonly be celebrating victory, plotting against somebody or confronting one another. Nadir and Zurga instead overlap and respond to each other in the way close friends might in real conversation.
“It’s an extraordinary moment of intimacy shared between two virile men,” he says.
For this production, Barlow wants to tap into something recognisable to contemporary audiences: the emotional openness that can suddenly emerge between male friends.
He compares it to “that blokey vibe when two mates have a beer in a pub and get a bit sentimental”, noting how even his “so straight” brother can become surprisingly sensitive and forthcoming about his feelings after a couple of drinks.
Barlow also believes audiences today are more accustomed to seeing physical and emotional intimacy between men, both queer and straight. Watching football recently, he was struck by the uninhibited embraces that erupt after a goal.
“It’s almost like an orgy, apparently!” he jokes, “and yet no one, thankfully, is bothered by it.”
The relationships are not the only element getting a contemporary rethink.
Rather than recreating the opera’s original vision of ancient Ceylon, modern-day Sri Lanka, NZ Opera’s production transports the action to an exclusive resort hosting luxury jewellery house Pêcheur & Perle.
Barlow says the radical reframing allowed the creative team to move away from the original work’s outdated colonial attitudes towards race, religion, women and chastity.
Instead, the story becomes a parable about ruthless Western powerbrokers, where luxury branding operates almost as a secular religion and wealth, influence and exclusivity inspire their own intense forms of devotion.
It should look suitably decadent too.
For anyone who has never considered themselves “an opera person”, Barlow’s pitch is delightfully straightforward.
“This production is going to tip its hat to the zeitgeist in a way I don’t believe any other contemporary production has yet to do,” he promises. “It’s going to look like a Vanity Fair photo shoot and the tunes are to die for. What’s not to love?!”
The Pearl Fishers plays Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, on 23, 25 and 27 September, before moving to the Isaac Theatre Royal, Ōtautahi Christchurch, on 14, 16 and 18 October. Tickets and information at nzopera.com
