Anne's True Love
Posted by Sian Ellett on 15 March 2012 | 0 Comments
Tags:
The Rakes Progress,
Anne Trulove,
Tiffany Speight,
artists,
Victorian Opera,
interviews,
Melbourne,
opera
Tiffany Speight, playing Anne Trulove in The Rake's Progress 2012
"Anne does go for the good looking bad boy," Tiffany Speight confides in a break between rehearsals of The Rake's Progress, "but there's a lot more to it than that." Tiffany explains that Anne is a woman very aware of her responsibilities to her father, who also constantly struggles to look after the man she is in love with, despite Tom Rakewell's spectacular fall from grace. "She's somewhere between completely understandable and completely frustrating," Tiffany says, describing the way Anne never gives up on Tom , forgives all of his treacheries and nurses him in her arms in the heartbreaking final scene of the opera.
"I feel like I'm playing myself," Tiffany admits and I have to agree, her clear gaze and warm smile shine in person as well as on the stage. Anne is one of the only constants in Stravinksy's masterpiece. She is loyal, both to her father and to Tom; her love does not falter and she follows Tom to his indecorous end, her heart still pure. "I respect her," says Tiffany, "she has a wonderful, quiet strength."
