FeaturedLondonOperaReview

The Mouth of the Gods – Hoxton Hall, London

Reviewer: Renee Palma

Director: Michael Walling

Border Crossings adapts an indigenous opera titled SAN FRANCISCO XAVIERand intersperses it with depictions of three events hundreds of years apart, connected by colonial violence against indigenous Latin American people. This makes The Mouth of the Gods an inventive project that turns the stuffy inaccessibility of classically renditioned opera on its head.

Only in some depictions does the play feature conversation in English, as the operatic components are sung in the nearly extinct Indigenous Chiquitano language. This creates an interesting dynamic for outsider audience members, where the narrative components most legible to them are the imperialist ones. There’s this twisted relief that comes from finally being able to understand what people are saying once the depiction of the Valladolid Debate of 1550 begins, only to find that what is being discussed is the matter of whether Indigenous people have souls and whether they are owed human decency in the Spanish evangelising mission.

The indigenous dancers and singers, who moments ago were joined together in festivities, are left silent, only able to look but not participate in these dehumanising and nonsensical deliberations over the terms of their unjust occupation. The actors who portray the imperialism that takes on many iterations, Spanish evangelists, empire stewards in Cuzco, and capitalists profiting from environmental degradation, do well to contribute to this sinister feeling.

The only way for an outsider audience to interact with indigenous sentiments is through interpreting their art, much of which is represented in this production. Indeed, this project serves as a catalyst for much rediscovery of art for those who have ties to indigenous Latin America. It features puppets and cloth tapestries made through traditional practices and features dance and clothing drawing from that time.

In a publication freely distributed at the show, singer Rafael Montero speaks about how he has “worked to recreate a more authentic Indigenous way of singing, based on an understanding and close experience of the local way of singing this music written for my ancestors, and which I heard sung from childhood, both in churches and family gatherings.” The vocals from him and Edith Ramos Guerra modulate so clearly in moments of grief, anger, and celebration through all the characters they play.

It is a poignant reminder of all that has disappeared from the records, eroded by time, and forcefully removed by those in power. The records most accessible to those interested in the rich histories of indigenous Latin America are the ones kept by the Europeans, which are paternalistic, violent, and sickeningly egoistic. Further, by recreating the assassination of the leader of the Indigenous Lenca people and Honduran climate activist Berta Cáceres, Border Crossings shows the audience the lengths through which those in power go to hide their centrality to the violence even as they make a spectacle of it.

The production makes full use of Hoxton Hall. Talented musicians narrate the mood through their playing on the stage. There’s creative use of the dimension of the space, with imperial forces standing upon higher platforms as their brutality comes down upon otherwise joyful people. Poetry and translation are projected above the production, shaping the grief the audience feels over the events taking place.

This production is simultaneously a meditation on colonial violence and a community-building project for those largely estranged from their history, and the dual functions of it bleed into every component.

Runs until 1 December 2024

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Operatic fusion explores erased histories

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The Reviews Hub London is under the editorship of Richard Maguire. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. Our mission is to provide the most in-depth, nationwide arts coverage online.

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