Stone Nest doesn’t look much from the outside: an unmarked door up a couple of steps, just off a busy junction. But how many West End arts venues can claim to be not only a former chapel but also an ex-nightclub and an ex-squat? London Handel festival’s latest venture there, a staging of four of Handel’s early Italian cantatas interspersed with newly commissioned music by Héloïse Werner, revelled in the space’s semi-curated grottiness. Directed by Adele Thomas and designed by Hannah Clark, it was grungy black for all (hoodies, leather, chunky footwear), plus stylised tears in glitter makeup. The smoke machine worked its magic; the lighting was almost filmic.
The instrumentalists, singers and dancer alike were often mobile, evaporating from the main space only to reappear on a balcony or framed by a gothic brick archway. Limbs missed me by centimetres as bodies flew past. The double bassist was within arm’s reach as she despatched Handel’s tempestuous figuration with historically informed panache. The proximity was thrilling.
So was the ferocious, gutsy approach to Handel’s four scores. The sightlines must have been a challenge and the coordination between singers and instrumentalists wasn’t perfect. But this was a performance that pinned you to your seat. Led by harpsichordist Laurence Cummings, the one-to-a-part orchestra was all grit, and even the more lyrical lines were extravagantly shaped. Werner’s musical “dissolves” at the start and end of each cantata were breathtaking: unfamiliar harmonies spooled out of a Handelian cadence; the double bass became a percussion instrument amid guttural squawks from the oboes.
The singing was similarly fearless. Countertenor James Laing hissed his opening lines and was a creepy narrative presence throughout. Patrick Terry was an impassioned (if often rather sharp) Chloris. Nardus Williams’ Armida was exquisitely intimate. Soraya Mafi’s Ero limpid and phenomenally well controlled. Claire Booth’s Agrippina – a platinum-wigged Hollywood starlet ageing disgracefully – seemed genuinely unhinged, spitting out virtuosic ornamentation, her voice terrifyingly expressive. Was it all in good taste? No. Will I ever forget it? Not a chance.
• In the Realms of Sorrow is at Stone Nest, London, until 3 March
• The London Handel festival continues until 18 March
