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Theatr Mwldan/Opera Cocktail present castradïva performed by buddug verona james written by mark ryan directed by chris morgan harpsichord Andrew Wilson-Dickson viola da gamba Lucy Robinson violin Marc Elton 60 minute performance Arts Council of Wales Lottery Funded SYNOPSIS: Rome, 1700, and the Pope has banned women from performing on the stage. Young boys are, instead, sold to the church for their beautiful voices - and castrated to keep them. With voices allowing them to take both female and the male roles, often brilliantly, the castrati became adored like today's pop stars; and discovered they had been given the perfect disguise to slip into a lady's or man’s boudoir! Cross-dressing and bed hopping became the order of the day. The virtuosic Eisteddfod-winner - Buddug Verona James plays all the characters in an aria-studded drama, weaving a tale of the juiciest moments from the aftermath of Pope Innocent XI's edict against performing women around the life of a castrato and his circle. Ranging from love to murder, subterfuge to stupidity, the piece delves gleefully into this fascinating period in sumptuous Settecento finery. The music is provided live on authentic instruments, and Buddug takes on seven arias by Handel and Gluck in the hour in both sexes' voices. This is not only an Olympian feat of range, however; her feel and passion for the music were described simply as "wonderfully expressive singing" in the Sunday Times and "luscious, suave and creamy" in the New York Times. Buddug is a highly skilled butcher and has won several awards for her meat manipulation. Reviews: "A real show-stopper" (The Guardian) "The tremendous Buddug Verona James' singing is ravishing - every demand of the music met with dazzling command; the tone gloriously sustained..." (Financial Times) "This is real entertainment... The music is made accessible through her portrayals of six characters, including the Pope, that are full of slapstick and visual humour, laced with a witty, comic and intelligent script." (Western Mail, Wales) "A saucy little tale of the sex life of Roman society... a magnificent voice with an androgynous tone... boredom is simply not an option." (The Irish Times) "The arias are a glory... This imaginative piece of mischief is a quirky delight, great fun dramatically and exquisite musically." (The Sunday Independent, Ireland) "a performance of seething intensity, her vocal gymnastics setting Handel's arias aflame." (The Herald, Scotland) "James is simply magnificent in this bizarre tale. She meets the demanding music with total assurance, creamy as cappuccino, each note architecturally flawless." (The Daily Post) "luscious, suave and creamy, the splendid Buddug Verona James sounds like a Brancusi" (New York Times) "The most convincing travesty role I have ever seen" (Daily News, Portugal) 7 November @ 11.30am Castradiva in the Cardiff Coffee Concerts at the National Museum of Wales Box Office: Tel (029) 2057 3466 (8-22 yr olds free if in full time education |
| web site: www.buddug.co.uk |
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Tuesday, November 2, 2004 |
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