Britten operas at home...
The latest production by the Royal College of Music's world-renowned International Opera School opened at the Britten Theatre on Monday 29 June, and received a rousing reception from an audience packed with industry insiders.Their acclaim has been echoed in the first two reviews of the production:
"Ian Judge has brought a touch of raffish magic to Kensington... The look of it is top class; how does everything else add up? Extremely well, I’m delighted to report. Michael Rosewell gets dedicated support from his small band in the pit, certainly up for the shifting, eerie challenges of Britten’s most atmospheric operatic score... Judge is an astute director not to over direct the mechanicals’ performance of Pyramus and Thisbe, leaving Britten’s glorious operatic pastiches to carry much of the comedy... Of the utterly magical ending, where you may even receive a fairy’s blessing, perhaps I should say no more, so as not to spoil the surprise. Suffice to say the Trinity Boys Choir gets a major share of the curtain call and deservedly so."
- Nick Breckenfield, What's On Stage
"There is much to enjoy in this production with its rather dark overall feel... Michael Rosewell led a flowing account of the music... Judge’s production avoids being twee and emphasised that much of the fairy intervention in the world of humans is not always that benign... Luke Williams’s punk-like, acrobatic and charismatic Puck was particularly fine, showing an ability to get the meaning of the spoken words across with point and musicality... Suzanne Shakespeare’s Tytania was an excellent foil, and she managed to sing her difficult music with poise and allure, including some pretty dazzling high notes, words clear – no mean achievement... As Hippolyta Rosie Aldridge revealed a voice of power and beauty and real stage presence... Mention must also be made of the superlative and confident contribution of Trinity Boys Choir who sang and acted beautifully throughout. The final ethereal passage involving all the fairies and the reconciled Tytania and Oberon was as magically sung as one could hope for."
- Alexander Campbell, Classical Source
You can see selected images from the opera here.
