The Rake’s Progress review: A tale that leaves audiences ooh-ing and ahh-ing with delight

The Rake’s Progress

Glyndeborne, East Sussex                                                         Until December 1

Rating:

Stravinsky’s neo-classical masterpiece, The Rake’s Progress, after Hogarth, to a libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, premiered in Venice in 1951, is a bit like Stravinsky himself. 

It’s brilliant, but brittle and cold, so the spectacular rise and equally precipitous fall of Tom Rakewell rarely engages the emotions of the audience as a piece by Verdi or Puccini might.

We don’t sympathise with Rakewell, or feel sorry for him. Which is why The Rake’s Progress has never been a big hit. But also why this venerable production (now 46 years old) by John Cox, with dazzling sets by David Hockney, continues to thrive.

Hockney’s superb draftsmanship makes the gingham-check sets a constant pleasure to the eye. Especially the morning room in Act 2, which still draws oohs and aahs of delight from the audience as the curtain goes up.

No expense was spared here, so the same setting in black and white, with costumes ditto, is reproduced in Act 3, as the ruined Rakewell’s possessions are put up for auction.

I first caught up with this production 30 years ago. It has remained in my mind ever since, and it’s every bit as good as I remember, even though Stravinsky’s music continues to lack much in the way of humanity, to my ears at least.

Cox, now in his 80s, returns to direct a delightful show. A strong cast is led by Nardus Williams as Anne Trulove, and Frederick Jones as Rakewell. But the show is stolen by Sam Carl’s Nick Shadow. 

Carl looks and sounds truly devilish (a compliment!), and his sardonically charismatic stage presence is the best I have seen in the role. This young man will go far.

In the pit, Kerem Hasan draws excellent playing from the smaller than ideal touring orchestra.