Simplicity and directness can be highly effective in opera, as WNO proves in Paul Curran's new production of Verdi's Otello.
It's a work offering a hayfield of opportunity for psychological dissection, but Curran knows that the sin of jealousy and the corruption of revenge are best illustrated when stripped bare.
A wind-swept Desdemona high on the ramparts to greet the victorious Otello at the opera's explosive start is the first of a series of vivid scenes set by designer Paul Edwards and lighting supremo David Martin Jacques, though the all-purpose, stage-right pile of rocks eventually distract.
The picturesque culminates in the act three arrival of Venetian ambassadors and deepen in tune with Verdi's astonishing orchestral effects in the opening of the finale, as Otello stands poised outside Desdemona's bedroom, intent on murder.
Why the knife he uses to kill himself is handed to him by Cassio (Wynne Evans) is one of the production’s few prolonged mysteries for a Shakespearian but it detains us after the show, not while it‘s on..
The third act almost blinds the audience with sumptuous maritime pomp but is successful in wedding the crowd scene to the tortured emotions played out by the principals.
Dennis O'Neill gives his all as the Moor, as practised a portrayal of how the character's rage matches the erosion of its public might as one is likely to encounter. When he forces the towering Iago (David Kempster) to his knees, he does it with believable authority.
Kempster is magnificent in his opening soliloquy on evil and lives up to its declaration, while Amanda Roocroft as Desdemona rises to the challenge of being both angry at and finally resigned to her fate.
The chorus is gloriously unleashed and conductor Carlo Rizzi, in orchestral outburst and delicacy, delivers wonders in the pit. |
