Dark and dramatic comes this contemporary adaptation of Georges Bizet’s 19th-century opera.
What choreographer John Inger has done in recreating Carmen is visionary – bold and breathtaking – retelling the tale captured in Prosper Mérimée’s 1845 novella.
Inger has reimagined the classic opera, with its electric score, as realised by Orchestra Victoria, under the baton of Joel Bass, and turned it into captivating dance.
Photos by Kate Longley
In the prologue, a young boy innocently playing with a ball has a harrowing vision of his future.
We are in Seville, Spain.
Carmen is a beacon of fire and light. She can have any man she wants. Her mere presence creates waves. Her powers of seduction are legendary.
So it is at the gates of a tobacco factory, where female workers, including Carmen, gather.
Men fawn over her, but she tosses a flower to the guard Don Jose.
Back inside the factory, Carmen gets into a fight with the other girls.
The commanding officer, Zuniga, orders Don Jose to arrest her, but she seduces him and thereby gains her freedom.
However, when Don Jose’s betrayal is discovered, Zuniga humiliates him and strips him of his military rank.
Later, at a party for a Toreador (bullfighter), Don Jose sees Carmen and Zuniga flirting.
Jealousy gets the better of him and he takes extreme action in front of the young boy we have met in the prologue.
In Act II, Don Jose is plagued by his criminality and is visited by demons, but worse is to come after he witnesses Carmen and the bullfighter getting cosy.
Again, Don Jose’s behaviour is witnessed by the young boy, who looks on in horror.
Apart from the dancing and the music, exhortations from the protagonists punctuate the work.
On opening night, Callum Linnane was a picture of desperation and angst as the envious, love-struck Don Jose.
His interactions with the confident and defiant Carmen, as realised by Jill Ogai, were among the many highlights of the piece.
Both were in superb, assured balletic form.
There was a swagger and entitlement about Brett Chynoweth as Zuniga, which transforms into a stunned look when Don Jose takes him out.
Ebullient and flamboyant is how I would describe Marcus Morelli as Torero. He plays to be noticed.
Lilla Harvey captures childhood wonder, soured forever as she transitions the hapless youth.
With a minimalist set, the action gravitates around nine three sided tall “lockers”, each facet of which is different.
At times they are lined up to form barriers, while on other occasions they are mirrors.
The concept is quite ingenious, the work of set designers Curt Allen Wilmer and Leticia Ganan, with Estudio DeDos.
Likewise, David Delfin’s costume design is most effective.
The fully blacked body suits worn by the shadowy figures that permeate the ballet are a portent of doom.
The uniforms of Zuniga and Don Jose, and the Toreador’s sparkling black jacket distinguish them.
And then there is the traditional rich red (as distinct from the other colours worn by her fellow factory workers) for the fiery Carmen.
Pristine white gives way to black on the young boy after interval, as his fate is sealed.
Tom Visser’s lighting design sets the tone.
Shocking and alluring, Johan Inger’s Carmen, which premiered in Madrid in April 2015, is an emotion-charged work.
With a running time of one hour 45 minutes, plus interval, it is sublimely realised by the principals and artists of The Australian Ballet.
It is on at Regent Theatre until 18th March, 2025.
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