As if immobilised by an alien force, the audience scarcely stirred for the 105-minute duration of Innocence by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho (1952-). This international joint commission was given its UK premiere at the Royal Opera House last Monday. Since the subject matter is gun violence, specifically a school shooting in Finland and its aftermath, we knew what lay ahead. The impact, however, is primarily meditative, the suspense psychological rather than theatrical or dogmatic. First seen in Aix-en-Provence in 2021, with mostly the same cast and artistic team, Innocence was – as then – conducted by Susanna Mälkki and directed by Simon Stone (Phaedra, National Theatre), both making welcome house debuts.
To a crisp libretto by the Finnish writer Sofi Oksanen, with translation and dramaturgy by Aleksi Barrière, the action shifts across two timelines. A wedding is taking place, 10 years after the attack in which 10 students and a teacher were killed. The groom is the gunman’s brother. The bride knows nothing of the tragedy but the secret cannot be kept. Threads are drawn together until, in a final twist, we understand the story’s awful resonance. Nimble, naturalistic sets (designed by Chloe Lamford, lighting by James Farncombe), revolve briskly, in short scenes, between international school and wedding feast. Parents, son and bride sit in a queasy “last supper” configuration beneath pink heart-shaped balloons. Victims and survivors, deliberately indistinguishable, speak their thoughts, hopes, fears.
