I have always been a long time big fan of Philip Glass. When I saw this opera called Akhunaten showing in London coliseum, I thought that this is a rare opportunity for me to go. Part of me seemed very exhausted and stress as I feel I am behind on my practical works, but there is no time to procasinate. There were only 8 shows, and the cheapest cost £60. Quite expensive but one time affair and also it is Philip Glass!  I painfully paid and hope that the opera will not disappoint me. I also went there after school and by myself.

First act, 3 minutes of pure Philip Glass music with live performances. Gauze screen with an abstract tones and colours. Didn't make out to be of any shapes, but as the music played on for another minute or so, the light slowly changes and it makes out to be an abstract painting of Akhunaten on the left, and mountain shapes on the right. Symbols were also shown although I am not sure what it meant. The lighting effect was magical. I realise that it was just tuning the threshold of the light to make the change of the shapes. Surprising effective. This lighting effect was used throughout the show. 

When the gauze rises up, a big stage with three levels was on stage. Three rooms was separated on the ground level. It was lay out beautifully. The right side seemed to be a copper wall room with the Egyptian paraoh sitting sideways. The middle room which I found most intriguing is a group of men with lab coats examining or dissecting a body. On the left the room remains closed until Act III.  On the second level a group of people facing the audience were singing. And the top level has about 8-10 people sitting sideways like Egyptian painting with animal masks on their head. They are pretending to row the boat. I keep staring the top part because I am working on the puppet head for one of my project right now.  

Everyone is moving very slowly. The main character is a small man which is the main character.  He is singing not in soprano voice but something of a higher pitch, which was done deliberately to indicate that he is an intersexual, according to Philip Glass. 

Akhunaten is a religious man who has changed the Egyptian religion. Despite reigning for only 17 years, it seemed that there are traces of his religion to the Old Testament. 

I was mostly intrigued with use of the jugglers, which has an symbolic meaning behind it.  Egg shaped objects were being threw in air. Sometimes as many as eight!  In one act they were crawling with their back up, and juggling.  Adding another layer of difficulty,  they even interchange with each other. You definitely need highly skilled jugglers and not street ones. That was the most impressive part of the show for me.    In the catalogue, it shows that in one image in an ancient Egyptian painting, there are evidence of jugglers existence even in Egyptian times . Interesting. The round object also symbolises life and death, a subject I am working on myself. I didn't realise that jugglers exist several thousand years ago already.  I seemed to always stare at the jugglers during the whole show rather than of the singers.  They were generally far more interesting to watch to me. Akhunaten, Nefertiti and his mother move in slow motion as they sing, while the jugglers juggle at their time.  This contrast of fast and slow movements created an much intrigued stage. The first act was amazing good, while Act II and Act III seemed anticlimax for me.  There are memorial scenes, like that sun that was designed in the middle of the stage.  A big sphere was lowered and it was a glaring orange red colour and changing colours both the background and the sphere as he sings.  And the love scene,  a very long red cloth was trailed along as Akhunaten and Nefertiti sings. I remember Nefertiti bust when I saw it in the museum, which is a slim and beautiful woman, but this singer in this show seemed rather large as compared to  Akhunaten small frame intersexual body. 

I feel a little indifferent to the director's choice to the ending. When I see how they have the lab coated men examining the body again, I was smiling on that scene, and thinking that would be the perfect ending for the show. But it didn't end there, Akhunaten came alive and went singing for another 10 minutes before ending.  Overall, it was very well presented piece,  with the exception that I wasn't too sure about the main characters and the ending. But it is still worth to see.   There was a little surprise for me at the end when all house lights were on, The room which I thought was copper coated are all constructed with plastic sheets! They were just lit properly to give that effect.  Now that I have seen this, I am reconsidering about my interim show. Instead of having too many projections, lighting can also be an effective execution.

In conclusion, I think the show has three main elements that I think it is prominent and successful, the glorious lighting, unearthly music and the amazingly skilled jugglers.

I was also listening to a pre-recorded pre-performance lecture on ENO website, which has interesting insights from the collaborators in this opera production.  https://soundcloud.com/englishnationalopera/akhenaten-pre-show-talk