Hanoch Levin and Gil Shohat's The Child Dreams, conducted by David Stern, at the Israeli Opera, can no doubt be counted among the most depressing and despair-radiating operas of the repertoire.
All that is evil in man and cruel in mankind is depicted mercilessly and sometimes sarcastically in the text and in the music. All that might be good is portrayed, if not as wishful thinking, then as a child's dream. Even the longed for, eagerly awaited, redeeming messiah turns out in the end to be a false messiah.

Shohat made a courageous attempt at the almost impossible task of turning Levin's play into an opera. Levin's profoundly philosophical, abstract and ironic, sharply pointed ideas hardly lend themselves to the operatic medium. What came closest to Levin's spirit were Gottfried Helnwein's set and Omri Nitzan's direction. These were the main heroes of the performance, highly imaginative, altogether unconventional - without gliding into sophistication - and thought provoking.

There were some highlights in Shohat's music. The opening, not by the orchestra as commonly done, but by an unaccompanied women's nonet, was an ingenious idea, creating a dreamy emotional atmosphere right from the start. Vocal roles were mainly in a suggestive narrative Sprechgesang style, wisely abstaining from melodic, Puccini-like sentimentality. Cliches were perhaps unavoidable, such as forceful drum beats and blaring brass in violent scenes.

The effect of Ira Bertman's clear, appealing soprano, as The Mother, was marred by her unholy tendency to express emotional intensity by shrill, grating tones in the higher register. The gentle art of conveying strongest feelings by soft, high sounds is something that local sopranos still have to learn from their French and Italian counterparts. Hila Baggio's soprano, in the role of The Child, sounded altogether lovely. The Hebrew enunciation of almost all the singers was so unintelligible as to necessitate the reading of the surtitles.

The Child Dreams

Hanoch Levin

The Opera House 
Tel Aviv

January 18