In the magnetic atmosphere of the Shelleys, the housewife of the villa in Geneva could write horror tales, but for sure, their doctor friend, Polidori wrote the first vampire story in English by opening the Byron-like idea. In the German hands, a drama, then a great opera, have been formed from it, which after two centuries long apparent death, Zoltán Balázs has created again, he has visualised the gesture language of the no-theatre, but he has given all possibilities for the modern opera performing.

The formation of the roles, the singing, the movement, anyway the lighting, the costumes, the incredible intensity of sight could resulted in a magnificent performance. The extreme story in Japanese samurai-like stylization, with the tools of the minimalism on stage, while the characters’ relationships in the performance of sign language, are realised in invented gesture language. The extreme situations are counterpointed by graceful movements, which are slowed down, the flying of the sounds by white rigid masks. The Vampire, who is not blood thirsty at all, who is forced to do terrible things by evil powers of the other world, can appear as mysterious shadow, and finally on Judit Gombár’s transparent background wall, which divides the actions with the changing of its colourful lights and holes. The choir, with thirty members, appear in the tall geometric place, they form wonderful moving pictures with András Szőllősi whirling choreography. They appear in six different special dresses, from the ghostly black through the sun-like yellow shining, with tale-like crests, which are shining purple, and finally frozen into gypsum white, which becomes dead grey in the final scene.

The singers can cover themselves into very expressing and various beauties, and make impossible to find fitting advanced adjectives for Judit Gombár’s unique achievement. The troupe of Rennes is impressively powerful, the presence of the quartet of the dissolute men with Karine Audeber, the mezzo dominant woman, who gets naked with oversized body, but sings even more flexible, it is a masterfully worked out episode, the bass, which gives frightening energies in three roles too, with shark head resonance. Christophe Fel, who has gigantic playing power, who stands out with his perfect German knowledge in his prose speeches too. It will be hard to decide between the two male competitors: Marc Haffner’s proportionally articulated male tenor is a unique rare thing on its own, above this, it comes with natural ability to play and so surging musicality, which we can admire in the aria of the masterpiece. Nabil Suliman’s lonely Vampire is a grandiose feature, his singing is suggestive, his performance is the passion, which is coordinated with conscious rationality, under the weight of the main role, which grow up to the height of mountains of the stormy clouds, with mature formation of the role. It is very characteristic for his classic nature, that he could sing all through with middle power, he sings maybe fortes and just in his dying final he sings his fortissimo with full sounding.
The wonderful choir should get a separate paragraph, which can use the exceptional possibility, and glorify Heinrich Marschner’s music with never sounding power, and become the equal part of the erupting success.

Zoltán Balázs after The Blacks, proves his extreme affinity again for the performance of interdisciplinary art of "Gesammtkunst", in his performing work, he can form a dynamic unity of the singing performance, the moving, the lights, the music and the visual side.

The Vampire is a remarkable finishing of the very effective MEZZO Opera Festival, which beyond the excitement of the Competition, has giant effect, and has become the relative event of the Hungarian theatrical and singing life.

White Elephant, Kulturális Ajánló, 2008

(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)