Review - Carmen at The King’s Head Theatre
Pictured: A scene from Carmen at the King's Head Theatre
Published: 19 April, 2012
by SEBASTIAN TAYLOR
Relocating the action to north London worked well in the OperaUpClose productions of Puccini operas, its award-winning La Boheme and the recent La Fanciulla del West.
But swapping Seville for a north London flat doesn’t work so well for Bizet’s Carmen being staged over the next few weeks at the King’s Head Theatre, Islington.
There’s fun to be had in the flat where a group of twentysomething petty-thieves are having a great time, sharing a joint, drinking vodka from a bottle, doing the odd bit of jiving, brewing up some potcheen.
But the opera is so truncated, changed and mangled that it’s sometimes difficult to see much connection with Bizet’s masterpiece.
A new libretto by playwright Ben Cooper and director Rodula Gaitanou underpins key plot changes.
The whole of the first act, arguably one of the finest in all opera, is reduced to a five-minute romp in the bar at the front of the pub.
The crucial character of Michaela is cut out completely and Escamillo is no longer a bull-fighter, he’s an escaped convict with a plan for pulling off a big job.
Even so, Bizet’s music still makes a great backdrop to the north London storyline, particularly as the orchestral reduction is played so well by pianist Elspeth Wilkes with occasional help from guitarist Rosie Hopkins.
Further, there’s some strong singing by Christina Gill as Carmen, sharing the role with Flora McIntosh, and Nicholas Dwyer as a swarthy Escamillo, while Christopher Diffey does well as the lustful Don Jose.
In the final killing scene, Don Jose bashes Carmen’s head against a wall.
It’s brutally done even for a north London murder.
But it’s accompanied by one of the few pieces of unreconstructed Bizet in the production as the sounds of the Torreador chorus waft in from the streets of north London.
You leave wishing more of the real Bizet been retained.
• Carmen, King’s Head Theatre, 115 Upper Street, N1, until May 12, from £10, 020 7478 0160, www. kingsheadtheatre.com