Lawyers and Libretti

Let’s get the obvious one out of the way first: if a law firm is going to put on an opera, it should probably be Gilbert & Sullivan’s Trial by Jury. Instead, having progressed through G&S’s Mikado and Pirates of Penzance in previous years, Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy last weekend staged The Magic Flute, and not just anywhere, but at Glyndebourne. The house which has resounded to Peter Pears and Felicity Lott this time was filled by tax lawyers and legal secretaries.

It has no shortage of talent behind (and in front of) it. The director was Andrew Leveson, who has worked at companies including the English National Opera and Garsington and is about to join A&O as a trainee, while Tamino, the lovelorn hero, was passionately sung by Matt Farrington, a former King’s College, Cambridge, chorister. The orchestra, half guests and half current or former A&O employees, gave a spirited performance (tuning a couple of the violins would have helped), while the chorus was entirely employees.

There was plenty to like about the production – not least Tamino and his beloved Pamina being waterboarded as one of their tests of initiation – and the chorus of children (from Stepney Greencoat primary school) were as angelic as required. A partner in the banking department, Carine Chassol, hit the highest of the high notes belonging to the Queen of the Night. And several charities benefited, including the British Red Cross.

While there are no obvious legal parallels with the opera (and the director wisely steered clear of fabricating any), Don McGown, a partner of 20 years’ standing and the head of A&O’s music programme, says they chose The Magic Flute for its inclusiveness: “It was selected because it has a large cast of soloists and quite a bit of chorus unlike many other operas. And it was felt that we should do something different to G&S which we had performed most recently.” By using different Paminas and Papagenos in each act, the parts were spread even further.

It turns out that lawyers can conceive of such a thing as an unbillable hour. While they may only be second to bankers in our collective distaste, these lawyers have shown a remarkable devotion to their craft, with rehearsals since October and three a week of late. Secretaries scribbled in lunchtime and evening rehearsals, and there weren’t even any Continuing Professional Development points at stake.

Lydia Challen, a partner at A&O and a soloist in the production, playing the Third Lady, says that one of the best things about the process is that – by and large – it unifies quite disparate departments and ranks within the firm: “It involves lawyers of all different levels as well as a lot of the non-legal staff, so it’s a nice opportunity to do something together on equal terms.  For example, I’m a partner, but I’m working very closely with two trainees and although my bossy side comes out from time to time we all have to work together.”

It is perhaps this internal benefit which explains why firms are keen on putting on shows. As well as being enjoyable to act, sing or play in, they bind far-flung and complex organisations together to some degree. A&O has 5,000 staff in 33 countries, and while they’d need the Albert Hall to accommodate all of these, the thousand people in attendance on Saturday night – other lawyers and friends and families of performers – saw that teamwork is not just something for juries.

This is a message that has reached another zone of the operatic firmament: the Royal Opera House offers sessions called Housework, where a business’s employees are taught to work more effectively through the use of operatic techniques, acting as a chorus or shadowing a conductor to learn about cohesion and unity. (There are certainly some CEOs who could benefit from a Tosca-like defenestration.)

Thus – if we are lucky – it will turn out that the activity-filled away-weekends of every employee’s nightmare will be replaced with learning how to sing like a Hebrew slave or an anvil-striking Gypsy. And then who knows – if you hear that theartsdesk is putting on Christmas pantomime, you can say you read it here first.