In King Harald’s Saga, a single soprano performed a series of short songs which told the story of the Battle of Stamford Bridge, and related the death of King Harald Hardrada of Norway. While Pollyanna Furness was a very fine singer, and performed with great intensity and passion, the performance was staged in such a way as to make the whole experience incredibly awkward and uncomfortable for the audience. The performance took place in the Larkum studio at the ADC, and the seats were placed in a horseshoe with all the lights still on, so that audience members had to stare uneasily into one another’s eyes – the only other option was to fix your eyes on Furness, and run the risk that she might pick you for her next scene of ‘audience participation’. At one point she broke off her characterisation to ask a member of the audience to lie on the floor and close their eyes, so that she could kneel next to him to sing her lament. Luckily he was obliging.

Furness’ singing was undeniably good, and her vocal range was particularly impressive, but the atmosphere was so strange that it was impossible to appreciate the music. The only point when I felt at all moved by the performance was when she played the Icelandic sage at the end, reflecting on Harald’s death while tearing up a sheet of paper and letting the fragments fall to the ground. Otherwise the portrayal of the separate characters was largely unsuccessful, and not helped by Furness’ rather uncertain interpretative dance. Perhaps if the show had lasted longer than fifteen minutes she would have been able to draw out the differences in characterisation, but as it was the overwhelming impression was of awkwardness and pretentiousness.