Mark Rutland marries glamorous, habitual thief Marnie and is soon confronted by the many-layered psychological issues of her past. Alfred Hitchcock famously adapted Winston Graham's gripping thriller for the cinema in 1964, and the story has now received the operatic treatment.The film version benefitted from the star appeal of Sean Connery and Tippi Hedren, who transported viewers to a Hollywood version of the original bleak, post-war British environment of the novel. For this new opera, Nicholas Wright's libretto has largely reverted to the original landscape - we open in a 1950s office in which the starchily-dressed women gossip and joke about the handsome visiting client, Rutland (a disappointingly stiff performance by Daniel Okulitch, lacking in charisma).
Before leaving, he flirts briefly with Marnie (a capable, but lacking in complexity, performance from American mezzo soprano Sasha Cooke), as the office workers contemplate the end of their working week. Shortly afterwards, Marnie robs the safe and sets in motion a sequence of events that result in her enforced marriage to Rutland, an attempted rape, various awkward encounters with former co-workers and a mental unravelling and revelation at the end.
The ENO's production is visually arresting, thanks largely to Julian Crouch's stylish set and projections onto sliding flats. But it remains largely unmemorable melodically - the most rousing moments in Nico Muhly's musical score occur when he focuses on the chorus. Particularly notable are the opening office sequence, an after-work bar scene and a fox-hunt in which Marnie's beloved horse sustains a mortal injury. Unfortunately, from a promising early start, the production mirrors the fate of the horse and limps its way through the second half, where it eventually runs out of steam and expires. Save for a few moments where dependable old stalwarts such as Lesley Garrett (as Rutland's domineering mother) add an ounce or two of gusto into proceedings, the piece that opens so well, simply loses its sense of drama and intensity.
There is most definitely sufficient material and potential for a quite dazzling piece of work, but this will require some sharpening of the characters and re-examination of the second act, if Marnie is to be successfully revived in the future.
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