Read what our audiences have to say about Le Grand Macabre
Review by Martin Agombar
Le Grande Macabre was disappointing. In spite of the hugely impressive set, a giant naked woman who revolved splendidly whilst various characters crawled into and out of her, there was nothing else to hold this production together. The story was pointless and garbled, the supposed humour infantile, the singing uncharismatic and the themes shallow. Not even the program was useful in decoding the mess of muddled intentions. It was like an episode of Monty Python, oddly funny in its day, now unwatchable. It was only remarkable in how much effort had been expended in saying so little. Why bother to go to all that trouble if really you have nothing to say? The only redeeming feature was the set and some incredible digital effects. Unfortunately, in the end, this only served to underline the emptiness of the project as a whole. Without the giant, revolving woman, this would have been utterly unbearable.
Review by Jill Worsley
I was really disappointed with this production. As expected, the set - a giant interactive human body - was incredible, but it felt like the production completely relied on this to impress, and it didn't engage my attention otherwise.
I found the storyline weak, the musicality minimal, and the humour very childish (relying on sex organs and bodily functions mainly). I left feeling very frustrated that I had spent so much money on a production that did not deliver.
Review by Andrew
Awful, the worst thing i've seen in a while. There was no real story, the characters were awful. It relied throughout on cheap shock. It provoked, but in my case only disgust. The music was good, but the writing was horrific. Really poor. What really hurt, it did not inspire, it did not instruct, there were no morals or interactions of interest. It was crude and designed to provoke but not in a particularly intelligent way.
Read review by Christopher Jackman
I like Ligeti. He does interesting things in his music. I saw the previous ENO production of this in the '80s and enjoyed it enormously. I had high anticipations for this one. The set! Well what a set! But for me, it drowned out the music and the action.
Surrealism, particularly when combined with satire is essentially 'chamber' in scale; it is not designed for grand opera and can't withstand that degree of scrutiny. There were subtleties in the music and in the scenario which I lost because of the sheer 'hugeness' of the setting. When I shut my eyes I could hear the music in all its interactive delicacy, its climaxes and its intricacy. I enjoyed that!
The singing was terrific in all areas as was the playing of the orchestra. The set? Not for me thank you!
Read review by Jane-May Cross
I don't generally like to write bad reviews, but here's one of them.
Le Grand Macabre was more like Le Grand Ennui. Shocking this may have been in the post-second world war period, but if the anti anti-opera was meant to cause a stir in the 21st century, it's merely a very bad anachronism.
In fact, it was so bad (and I have never done this before, even in a cinema) that we felt we just had to leave in the interval.
Needless to say, I was sorely disappointed because I had been enticed back to the Coliseum on a special offer with the under-30s Access All Arias club.
I suppose you get what you pay for. And at £8 a seat, that was about all we got.
