Scottish Opera: The Makropulos Affair, Glasgow review: 'a collective triumph'

Janáček referred to Emilia Marty, the anguished heroine of his 1920s opera The Makropulos Affair, as “the icy one”. There’s little doubting that in Olivia Fuchs’ intense production for Scottish Opera (commissioned jointly with Welsh National Opera who premiered it in 2022) and in Orla Boylan’s magnetic performance as the world-weary Emilia. She’s lived for over 300 years courtesy of a secret elixir, must re-administer it to further survive, and gets herself entangled in an historic legal case that will help her rediscover the formula.

Boylan is magnificent, larger than life, mercilessly manipulative in a marathon vocal performance that moves inexorably to its fatalistic conclusion. There’s a fearsome seductiveness to her presence, coldly casting aside those around her once they’ve served their purpose. But this is a collective triumph. Feeding off Emilia’s centrifugal preeminence are some decisive portrayals, notably Catriona Hewitson’s endearing Kristina, Mark Le Brocq’s sparky Vítek, Ryan Capozzo (Albert Gregor) and Roland Wood (Baron Prus) as the vying petitioners, and Henry Waddington’s officious Kolenatý.

Fuchs’ production, set in the 1920s and boldly amplified by the oversize grandiloquence of Nicola Turner’s designs and persuasive use of projected images, picks up every cue from Janáček’s febrile, impatient score. The opening hits you like a thunderbolt - harsh lights signalling a vicious awakening and a rollercoaster momentum that remains unrelenting to the bitter end. David Pountney’s English translation is ballsy and, as befits the fast-flowing sung dialogue, brutally succinct.

In his debut with Scottish Opera, conductor Martyn Brabbins commands a steely authority over a healthily-stocked Scottish Opera Orchestra, reconciling Janacek’s frenzied detail with overriding singularity of purpose.

Read more: Olivia Fuchs on directing The Makropulos Affair for Scottish Opera: 'It’s a very sensual piece'