Manifest Destiny 2011 at Kings Head Theatre

Manifest Destiny 2011 at Kings Head Theatre

19 September, 2011
by: Naima Khan

An opera that looks at America's culpability in the events of September 11th.

Weirdly, terrorism inspired by the events of September 11th really does lend itself to opera. The music in Manifest Destiny 2011 at King's Head Theatre is unambitious and feels familiar, but paired with this highly political content it's a testament to the potential of the art form. Though the opera itself is obscure on a few too many occasions, Manifest Destiny is a curious look at the mindset of each player in an endless game of manipulation.

Valentina Ceschi's production unfolds on a set strewn with garish artificial flowers that places the drama in an isolated dreamland. It reminds us that, while we'd like to think of such violence and cunning as something that happens in an other realm, it's an everyday occurrence in our own.
The story follows Leila, seeking to avenge her father's death by creating her own violence against America, embodied by a shiny, smiley president in Katrina Waters and a grinning, slick CIA director in Tom Kennedy. They busy themselves stirring trouble in the Middle East and Afghanistan, encroaching on lands for every reason possible, only once mentioning the term 'manifest destiny'.

The 19th century phrase used to explain the obvious and inevitable expansion of the US harks back to an old, right-wing belief now overshadowed by economics, though its skeleton is evident in discussions of the promotion and defence of democracy.

Disappointingly, in exploring the reaction to 9/11 and how culpable America is in the tragedy, Manifest Destiny 2011 tries to weave in multiple love stories and we see Leila's accomplice give up his violent mission to save her from certain death. Even her interrogator falls for her.

True enough, Emma Pettemerides performance is the the most stirring and the most vocally stunning. Her lines are the most poetic and an example of what opera can do that a straight play can't. So it's easy to believe she'd have any man she comes across in the palm of her hand. But allowing Leila's relationships to become the driving force of this play does it an injustice. Instead of rooting the politics in human emotion, it trivialises them. These relationships hamper the clarity of what writer Keith Burstein addresses and provide a lot of confusion. For example, it's not clear initially that Leila's beliefs are in conflict with her boyfriend's, and that forms part of the reason she leaves for her mission. It is clear however, that she's in conflict with herself, something the libretto addresses beautifully.

Definitely food for thought, Manifest Destiny 2011, updated for this year's production is a contemplative, sometimes blurry look at the global response to American foreign policy, a blurry topic in itself.

Naima Khan