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Cavalleria Rusticiana and Pagliacci at the London Coliseum |
Operatic twins in a mismatched evening
REVIEW: CAVALLERIA RUSTICIANA and PAGLIACCI
The London Coliseum
OPERA'S most famous double bill, the two verismo revenge tragedies, Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci, opened the season at ENO on Saturday, in new stagings by Richard Jones.
It is a curious and rather uneven evening.
Cavalleria Rusticana is set in 1940s Italy, but the piazza and all important church are replaced by a claustrophobic wooden structure more evocative of an English village hall.
It makes for uncomfortable stage pictures as the chorus of villagers are crammed in with no room to move, and doesn’t make sense when the characters are referring to outside and we see them inside.
The introduction of a silent character with cerebral palsy, purportedly Turiddu’s brother, is unnecessary and distracting.
Jones seems more interested in Pagliacci (picturerd), with four lavishly expensive sets, designed by Ultz, of a provincial theatre somewhere in 1970s Britain, reminiscent of Michael Frayn’s Noises Off. They are very clever, but almost upstage the opera.
Lee Hall’s text for Pagliacci is a clunking rewrite, its frequent wrong emphases upsetting the relationship between words and music.
Sean O’Brien’s “translation” of Cavalleria rusticana is not much better. The attempt to link the two with a spurious curtain call after the interval misfires.
But the superb ENO company rises above these impediments to give stirling performances. Cavalleria rusticana takes the honours in the vocal department. Peter Auty’s passionate Turiddu is outstanding, with a flowing Italianate ring to the voice, and excellent diction. Jane Dutton’s Santuzza, and Roland Wood as Alfio give committed performances, and all the smaller roles are strongly sung.
In Pagliacci, Geraint Dodd as Canio and Mary Plazas as Nedda perform well but are overparted. Christopher Purves as Tonio, and Mark Stone’s Silvio contribute strongly.
ENO music director Edward Gardner secures sumptuous, impassioned playing from ENO’s orchestra and the chorus is excellent throughout.
Helen Lawrence |
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