At Mid Wales Opera |
| Mid Wales Opera- The Marriage of Figaro , Riverfront, Newport , October 24, 2009 |
Mid Wales Opera establishes a hothouse atmosphere in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, its latest touring production.Director Martin Lloyd-Evans sets events in the Edwardian era, his point of reference being the contemporary glass cloches which protected plants from draughts and subverting pollution. It's a prop on stage in the second half and even designer Bridget Kimak's clever set is inspired by it, particularly to illustrate how the opera's cheeky lower orders have virtually undermined the aristocracy. There's no glass in this glasshouse, and everyone comes and goes at will. However, it’s the idea not the hoi-polloi that’s subversive Lloyd-Evans cites the Great War as the leveller, but this is facile. The upstairs-downstairs society was made of more durable stuff, and in any case the manic goings-on are all there in the original, albeit sensationally at the time. Whatever. The production is text-book opera for small theatres, clearly sung and acted, full of original touches and neatly costumed (Count Almaviva, after all, has a regiment to which the philandering page Cherubino is condemned, though Figaro's puttees are initially bewildering. Is this pre-war or post-war?) The guiding hand belongs to conductor Keith Darlington with his nimble chamber orchestra, controlling the flow so that all the great arias are prepared for and neatly finished. No big voices are heard but that doesn’t matter on a boxed-in stage. Wyn Pencarreg (the Count), Lisa Crosato (Countess), Dean Robinson (Figaro), Kim Sheehan (Susanna), Katherine Allen (Cherubino) and the rest of the cast perform for each other, as vivid and funny an illustration as any other of inspired co-mingling. |
Reviewed by: Nigel Jarrett |
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