Dangerous territory

The publicity for this show has been in print and online for some time now and I noticed a line stating that ‘There is some nudity in this event’. As there are only four people in the cast, I wondered what Daniel Kramer, the director, had in mind. ‘I asked him that. Whose nudity? Well, mine, needless to say. Of course he’s not going to make me do it but there’s one point where I’m in full view in this perspex box and he wants me to be as stripped down, as dishevelled as I can possibly be. There are a lot of costume changes and it’s extremely complicated — I’m on stage pretty much the entire time. I’ve made a plan of Act One to try to get it all into my head.’ She produces a piece of paper on which she’s drawn a chart of how each scene connects with the next, exits, entrances and costume changes. ‘And that’s only the first half — there’s an interval after all that, thank God.’

With all this complexity of staging, has the piece itself been difficult to learn? ‘No,’ says Kelly, ‘no, it hasn’t. In fact, I deliberately decided not to memorise it in advance because things change along the way. It is vocally demanding, though, with quite a lot in the middle and bottom of my voice. But I enjoy that. The orchestration is really lush and on a grand scale, so we’re going to have to work hard to sing through it. Rufus says he can take layers away if necessary once he hears how it sounds.’

Does she work hard to stay physically fit? ‘Within reason. They do Pilates classes twice a week at Opera North, where we’ve been rehearsing, so I’ve been going along to those. I try to stretch before rehearsals but I’m no good at running, or jogging, or jumping up and down. I try to keep calm as well, not get all worked up. I do quite a lot of teaching now, at the Royal College, and I’ve realised that it’s not so much a matter of warming up vocally, it’s about the body around it, keeping things aligned and flexible so that the voice is supported. The voice knows what to do really — it’s a matter of giving it a nice, comfortable sofa, and space, then it just says, “Thanks, I’ll get on with it now.”

Up until mid-June, Rufus Wainwright had heard very little of his opera as Daniel Kramer asked to be allowed time to work on the staging without being overlooked. But from then on he’s been sitting in on everything and Kelly thinks he’ll have been surprised by how much detail has emerged. ‘That happens with paintings, doesn’t it? Everyone sees different things within a painting. And I’ve had people remark on things I’ve done in performance when I haven’t been aware of doing them at all. It’s disconcerting but hugely rewarding to get that reaction.

‘On stage is where you get the chance to feel more completely in the present than you ever can in real life. You can’t afford to think back or plan ahead; you just have to allow yourself to be there. And then anything can happen.’