Classical and Jazz: Preview - Opera - New ENO production of Don Giovanni
Published: 11 November 2010
by SARAH DAWES
A SCULPTURE apparently made from semi-circles of abandoned plumbing adorns the stage as the audience takes its seats for English National Opera’s new production of Don Giovanni. Before the opera starts, hooded figures with a bleeding Christ emblazoned on their T-shirts, appear, who seem to be quietly adjusting the plumbing. The audience mutters: “What is the purpose of this?” Then, the silence that follows the entry of the conductor, Kirill Karabits, is broken by the first orgasmic D minor chord.
As Don Giovanni emerges from Donna Anna’s bedroom, his servant, Leporello, is enviously wishing that he could change places with his master, and both are in a dishevelled state of dress – Don Giovanni in a wrongly buttoned, crumpled shirt, and Leporello in a dirty mac. It is hard to imagine any gear less attractive.
But the unglamorous male attire throughout this production (21st-century casual) is more than compensated for by the female dress, sexy high heels and short skirts; and, in Donna Elvira’s case, a stunning scarlet coat. The role of Donna Elvira was beautifully sung, at short notice, by Sarah Redgwick, because of the indisposition of Rebecca Evans.
It is not clear whether Iain Paterson’s Don Giovanni actually manages to consummate any of the liaisons in this production, but the scene where Leporello describes the hero’s sexual exploits to the jilted and love-sick Donna Elvira is one of the funniest ever, using a spreadsheet to great effect.
Mozart’s marvellous music and the jaunty rhyming couplets of the translation by Jeremy Sams contrast violently with the set, which consists of constantly moving pieces of scenery looking like bits of dilapidated public lavatory, with the occasional 1950s kitsch interior, pushed about by the same demon hoodies.
It’s not quite clear what Rufus Norris (director) and Ian MacNeil (set designer) have in mind but the result aptly matches the tale of depravity, violence and super-natural vengeance that unfolds, ending with terrible retribution.
• Eight further performances to December 3, 0871 911 0200, www.eno.org