Theatre Baby is a blog, to contain the archive of reviews that I have produced for The Reviews Hub and North East Theatre Guide, plus new reviews published under the banner of Theatre Baby.
Boeing Boeing
The People’s Theatre
Writer: Marc Camoletti
Translation: David Heneker & Francis Evans
Director: Steve Hewitt
Reviewer: Jonathan Cash
Date Reviewed: 2 October 2024
The play runs until Saturday 5 October
The programme tells us that, “Boeing Boeing is the most frequently performed French play of all time across the international stage…”Set in the 1960s in Paris, this classic farce tells the story of Bernard, a smug playboy who juggles three different fiancées, all airline stewardess, from 3 different nations. He manages this through a detailed knowledge of all their flight schedules and the efforts of Bertha, his maid, discreet and long-suffering, but definitely not in silence. She knows to change the bed and cook the right cuisine for each fiancée and change the portrait on his desk.
His old friend, Robert, comes for an unexpected visit as he plans to move from his provincial home to settle in Paris and find a woman to marry. Bernard explains his methodology for keeping his life fresh and exciting and pooh-poohs Robert’s concerns about the logistical difficulties such a lifestyle presents. He is confident that his planning and precision can keep the trio apart. What he is not prepared for is the storm that is brewing and the arrival of the titular aeroplane which is set to shorten flight times across the world.
Thus, his perfectly crafted plan to have breakfast with his American hostess, Gloria, lunch with her German counterpart, Gretchen and dinner with the Italian, Gabriella, falls into chaos when all three threaten to appear at the same time. Whilst Bernard experiences a series of panic attacks, most of the burden of keeping the three apart falls on the hapless Robert, who is forced to endless levels of improvisation. Meanwhile, he is becoming smitten with Gretchen after she kisses him by mistake – don’t ask- and she gradually falls for him. Gloria is also intrigued by him, leading to an escalation of the chaos.
After a long round of carefully choreographed entrances and exits, as the three are shepherded through various of the seven differently coloured doors on Sands Dobson’s impressionistic set, the inevitable happens as Gretchen and Gabriella meet and a form of resolution, if not redemption, is arrived at. Throughout, Bertha’s trenchant comments make for some of the best lines in the play.
The piece is, of course, sexist nonsense and very much of its period, but it remains very funny. Farce is a specialised genre where the humour arises from the situation more than through funny lines, though this play has more than its share of the latter. Holding the audience when the plot strains the limits of credibility requires a slickness and a great deal of skill from the players. It is to the People’s Theatre company’s credit that they generally achieved this.
Sam Hinton imbues Bernard with just enough charm for the audience to tolerate his outrageous philandering and Cat White’s Bertha makes the most of the delicious repertoire of put-downs and expressions of exasperation the script offers. One of the reasons the play isn’t more offensive in its misogynistic attitudes is that the three fiancées are all portrayed as strong, confident women who know their own minds. So, though Ashton Matthews’ sassy and pragmatic Gloria, Francesca Rombi’s warm-hearted but mercurial Gabriella and Emily Jeffrey’s hilariously intense Gretchen are victims of deception, they are not credulous fools.
Conor McCready has a whale of a time as the initially naïve Robert, progressing from wide-eyed bewilderment to an advanced degree of cunning, combining a high level of verbal and physical comedy skills. Many of the comic set pieces rest on him and he shoulders the burden with ease.
It is necessary to take this play with a pinch – or perhaps a ladle -of salt. It represents the attitudes of a bygone era and it is not meant to be realistic. The people’s have therefore staged it in what they call, “an almost pantomime environment equally untouched by reality – and all the better for it.” This is understandable, and the scenery is appealing and functional, but it has the effect of removing it from its period. This is particularly so when coupled with the costumes, that owed little to the 1960s. For this reviewer, that was unhelpful. The stewardess uniforms also could have benefitted from more consideration.
The play also takes a bit of time to get going because of the need for exposition and developing the characters, particularly setting Bernard up for a fall, but the night starts splendidly with a very funny and apt flight safety announcement, delivered by the director Steve Hewitt.
In short, this is a very amusing evening’s entertainment with some splendid performances, well-crafted set pieces and a satisfying conclusion.
Things I Know To Be True
The People’s Theatre
Writer: Andrew Bovell
Director: Sara Jo Harrison
Reviewer: Jonathan Cash
Date Reviewed: 9 September 2024
The play runs until Saturday 14 September
“This play is the world. What we have found doing this play, and what we hope the audience will experience, is that it is possible to stage something that encapsulates the universal truth of what it feels like to have a family.” The director’s programme notes serve as an excellent introduction to Andrew Bovell’s powerful, engaging and hugely relatable family drama. Sprinkled with humour throughout, it is almost Chekhovian in tone but with elements that would not be out of place in an Alan Ayckbourn piece.
The world of the play is a garden, expressionistically captured in the People’s Theatre’s embracing and intimate studio theatre. The garden is both the physical setting and a metaphor for the action of the play. The key events in the lives of the Price family over the course of a year are played out here as each season passes and the layers of etiquette, convention and self-deception are peeled back, laying bare the price each one of them has paid to be a part of the “dear octopus” of a modern family.
The play opens with a telephone call for Bob Price, the type of call, we are told, everyone dreads. Before he answers it, we rewind a year to where, on the surface, everything in the garden is as lovely as Bob’s perfectly tended roses. He took redundancy from a car plant at 56. Six years later he has constructed his own orderly and decorative world of neatly trimmed borders and well-pruned and regimented plants. The one thing he cannot bend to his will is the tree at the centre of the garden that irks him by making a mess with its dropped leaves.
His wife, Fran, works as a nurse and is the beating heart of the family. She relishes the element of disorder provided by the tree, as her wish for a wilder space echoes her yearning for a freer, more exciting life. Nonetheless, she holds herself in check with a steely determination, on account of her four, now grown-up, children.
We first meet Rosie, eager-to-please, open and childlike, backpacking round Europe and not sure why she’s doing it until she meets a beautiful young man in Berlin, who breaks her heart and sends her running for home. Her welcome home is illuminating, with Bob’s exasperation at her taking an unnecessary Uber, Fran’s instant diagnosis that someone has hurt her, and her siblings’ responses that nicely highlight their own characters and preoccupations. Nonetheless, this is no stereotypical model of dysfunction. All these people love each other, perhaps too much for their own good.
Older sister, Pip, is a successful career woman, with two daughters and a loving and responsible husband. Unfortunately, she is not in love with him. She carries the scars that Fran has inflicted over a number of years for not living up to her expectations.
The eldest son, Mark, gentle and considerate, is undergoing relationship difficulties and carries a secret pain that he is not yet ready to reveal, whilst spoilt yuppie son Ben is relishing the cut and thrust of corporate finance and conspicuously enjoying all the trappings of success.
As the year passes, each of the siblings’ inner worlds are explored, with outcomes that test the bonds of family to their limits. They are finally spread much wider apart, emotionally as well as geographically, while Bob laments the loss of the cosy neighbourhood family life, full of sleepovers and barbecues, he had always envisioned.
Fran has some revelations of her own to further unsettle him and then, ultimately, he must deal with the revelations of the telephone call…
This is a gripping drama that never hits a false note. Bovell is a skilled and insightful writer, who presents us with six fully-rounded characters, believably interacting throughout and I would be amazed if there was anybody in the audience who did not have many moments of recognition and empathy with the Price family members.
Sara Jo Harrison’s production never flags, drawing the audience in and holding their attention from beginning to end. Craig Fairbairn’s clever score is inconspicuously effective in punctuating and supporting the narrative.
All the cast give assured and well-judged performances. Steve Robertson imbues Bob with exactly the right mix of kindness, self-delusion, pomposity and uncertainty, bringing out the humour inherent in the role but never losing the essential dignity. Alison Carr is believably wounded and self-centred as Pip. Maya Torres is sweet and engaging as Rosie. Sam Burrell is convincing as the selfish and flawed Ben. Jay Hindmarsh deals well with the complexities of Mark’s life journey.
At the centre is Moira Valentine’s hugely impressive portrayal of Fran; passionate, powerful and complex. Mother of the Year or child abuser? A tender, loving wife or a self-serving pragmatist? Probably a bit of all of these but always triumphantly believable.
The People’s Theatre have brought their customary care and a great deal of talent to delivering a first-rate production of this beautifully written and, I would suggest, unjustly neglected play.
A note: The play is set in Adelaide, Australia; this is clear from the dialogue, while this company plays the roles in their own North-Eastern British accents. This jarred at first, but I believe it was a wise decision. The location is irrelevant, and the accents could have created something of a barrier for the audience. With this in mind, no doubt, Bovell adapted the script for the US production to locate it in the American Mid-West. Surely, something similar could easily be done for a British version.
All My Sons
The People’s Theatre
Writer: Arthur Miller
Director: Eileen Davidson
Reviewer: Jonathan Cash
Date Reviewed: 5 June 2024
Ann Zunder and Jonathan Goodman Photo: Paul Hood
All My Sons is generally accepted as one of the great plays of the post-war American theatre. Though perceived as secondary to Arthur Miller’s greatest work, Death of A Salesman, it is nonetheless a powerful drama, similarly highlighting the underlying falsehoods and dubious morality that lie at the heart of the American dream.
Joe Keller is a factory owner, who was exonerated in the court case that condemned his partner to prison, when their factory supplied cracked engine cases to the American air force, causing the death of 21 pilots. His wife, Kate, steadfastly maintains his innocence, just as she clings to the hope that their son, Larry, though missing in action for three years, will someday return.
Their good-natured son, Chris, carries his own survivor guilt from the war, having lost the platoon of soldiers he was leading. He is loyal to his parents and doesn’t question his father’s innocence, though not believing the myth of Larry’s survival. He has, as yet undisclosed, plans to marry his brother’s fiancée, Ann. The equation is further complicated by the fact that Ann is the daughter of Joe’s incarcerated partner.
Steve Parry and Ann Zunder Photo: Paul Hood
The play opens with the tree planted as memorial to Larry being blown down in a storm in the night when Ann has arrived to visit at Chris’ request. He plans to propose, and she is both aware and willing. His parents, however, have different ideas. Kate cannot countenance the idea, as it would mean acknowledging Larry’s death, and Joe finds it convenient to let her keep on hoping. As the four are trying to negotiate the situation, Ann’s brother, George, telephones unexpectedly to say he has been visiting their father in prison and needs to talk to her. Both the siblings, until now have refused to see or speak to their father. George says he is on his way to the Kellers’.
His arrival and subsequent revelations, test the relationships between the protagonists to the limit, exposing all the lies and delusions to which they have been clinging. Can the family survive when the facade has been shattered? In this, the play has echoes of J B Priestley’s An Inspector Calls, as well as more than a whiff of Greek tragedy.
The People’s Theatre have delivered an excellent production of this demanding piece. Eileen Davidson’s direction gives the script time to breathe, whilst maintaining a good pace. She is also blessed with an excellent cast.
Jonathan Goodman’s Joe has all the bluff heartiness of the self-made man, using his love of family to justify his ruthless pursuit of the mighty dollar. This is a well-judged performance, skilfully balancing strength and unacknowledged vulnerability. Ian Willis, as Chris, convincingly portrays the conflict of supporting, even honouring, his parents whilst suppressing his doubts and struggling to make his own life. Ginny Lee’s intelligent performance gives Ann a good balance of practicality and romanticism.
It is possible that Kate is the most difficult role. Needing maternal warmth and a large dose of blind self-delusion, she could become ridiculous and unbalance the piece. Ann Zunder, however, gives Kate an almost steely determination that moderates these qualities and makes her entirely believable.
As the neighbour, Dr Bayliss, Steve Perry is wryly amusing in detailing his struggles with his waspish wife, Sue; a role played with great style and gusto by Rye Mattick, clearly relishing some of Miller’s best lines. Steven Arran, as George, is credibly conflicted in the company of the Kellers, reverting before our eyes to the awkward youngster that Kate remembers whilst struggling to maintain his objective as an unlikely avenging angel.
Kaila Moyes’ excellent set convincingly conjures a yard in 1950s America and Robbie Close’s lighting design works well to complement the action and convey time passing. Perhaps some of the sound effects underpinning the monologues were a little heavy-handed but overall, the technical side was handled extremely well.
Given recent events at Boeing, the play has a new topicality, making this a smart piece of programming and this iconic play is in safe hands with this talented cast. It makes for an absorbing, thought-provoking and satisfying evening’s entertainment.
The play runs until Saturday 8 June.
Dad’s Army
The People’s Theatre
24 April 2024
To say that Dad’s Army is an iconic comedy series is an understatement. This much-loved programme ran from 1968 to 1977, was made into a film and even spawned an underwhelming copycat film in 2016. The show can still be seen daily on nostalgia-based satellite channels.
Beautifully written, by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, and superlatively acted by a first-rate cast, it was the epitome of gentle character comedy of a kind that is extremely difficult to imitate.
From this, you might discern that it is a brave company that sets out to reproduce these beloved characters on stage. You might be right in thinking, however, that of any local theatre group, the People’s Theatre would be the best able to do so.
On entering the auditorium, you could be forgiven for thinking you have wandered into the actual set of the series, so faithfully has the Walmington-on-Sea church hall been recreated. So then, will the characters be conjured as effectively? The answer to that is, generally, yes.
Steve Robertson’s Mainwaring brings the same pomposity and irascibility as Arthur Lowe’s original and Roger Liddle’s Wilson, gentlemanly and laid-back, is the perfect foil. David Cooper, with a splendidly waxed moustache, is an excellently doddery Corporal Jones, always one beat behind the platoon, and he starts proceedings with an engaging and tuneful rendition of the series’ theme song.
Mark Buckley is suitably louche and irreverent as the black marketeer, Walker. Joe McLaughlin is perhaps a little strong but nevertheless makes a good fist of the coddled mummy’s boy, Pike. Andrew De’Ath is suitably manic and delivers a convincing Scottish accent as the lugubrious Fraser. Steve Hewitt effectively doubles Private Cheeseman and the Colonel, though I got the impression from one or two lines that this has caused some slight script issues. Casting large numbers of men in any amateur production remains a constant challenge.
I have to confess that my favourite performance is that of Kevin Gibson as the gentle, soft-spoken and borderline incontinent Godfrey. Posture, voice, movements and facial expression all combine to hit the perfect balance between an impression and a three-dimensional performance. Though the other main characters generally strike a good balance also.
The play combines 4 of the tv stories and starts off with the hugely popular episode involving the captured crew of a German submarine. As I type this, I can imagine all readers shouting, “Don’t tell him, Pike.” Indeed, that eagerly awaited line drew a spontaneous round of applause on the first night, from an audience that clearly contained a large number of diehard Dad’s Army fans. Daniel Magee gives a strong performance as the sneeringly arrogant U-Boat commander. The rest of the crew are amusingly portrayed by a female ensemble, gamely hiding behind fake moustaches.
We move on to the episode when Mainwaring decides to bring some women in to assist the platoon and finds himself in a clandestine romance with Mrs Gray. Helga McNeil gives Mrs Gray all the charm and refinement that one would expect to bewitch the snobbish Mainwaring and the story effectively combines comedy and poignancy.
The third story introduces the platoon learning Morris dancing for a town pageant and the selection of a local woman to play Lady Godiva. Ann Zunder brings the right degree of effusiveness and gentle vulgarity to Jones’ lady friend, Mrs Fox. Mainwaring’s discomfort when he realises she thinks he is propositioning her is a joy to behold.
The final episode is more of a sketch, where the platoon, plus some others, are formed into a choir to perform the Floral Dance. This allows the piece to finish with a rousing chorus.
As a reviewer, it falls to us often to see a production on the first night, which is not always ideal. This play has a huge cast and a number of complex logistical issues to conquer and some of the characters have huge tracts of dialogue to learn. Perhaps as a result, this performance was quite tentative at times, with a number of fluffed lines and a slowness of pace that, I felt, hindered the delicate timing of some of the jokes. Of course, this is character comedy and the actors’ commitment to their characters helped to make up for this.
Nevertheless, this is an entertaining evening, with much to enjoy, and I must add that the audience clearly had a splendid time, judging from their response.
The play runs until Saturday 27 April.
Entertaining Mr Sloane
People’s Theatre Newcastle
20 March 2024
Writer: Joe Orton
Director: Matthew Hope
Runs until 23 March 2024
A polished, funny, thought-provoking, and professional production of Orton’s outrageous and iconoclastic sex comedy, with a splendid cast.
Alison Carr as Kath & Sam Burrell as Mr Sloane (Photo Credit: Paul Hood)
Joe Orton’s debut play remains controversial even 60 years after it was first produced. It was written in an era when homosexuality was still illegal, the death penalty remained in place for murder and having a child outside marriage was a scandalous act that would cause a woman to be shunned by ‘decent’ society. Against this backdrop, the extremely black comedy takes well-aimed potshots at the hypocrisy and self-delusion of those masquerading as respectable, whilst driven by appetites that they cannot publicly embrace. In reality, the ‘swinging sixties’ actually swung for very few, though it becomes clear that the eponymous central character of this play is happy to swing both ways.
The setting is a shabby house, located in the middle of a dump, presumably symbolising the underlying corruption in society. Kath, a somewhat dowdy woman in early middle age has encountered a young man at the library and she has offered him a room. As she pretentiously shows him round her shabby living room as if it were a stately home, a few things become clear. We see that she has designs on him sexually and that he is happy to play up to her if it is to his advantage. We find out that in her youth she had an illegitimate child that was put up for adoption when the father refused to marry her.
Of Sloane, we learn that he was orphaned as a child and grew up in an orphanage. That is to say, we are told this by Sloane. From the outset, we know better than to believe him. Sam Burrell’s pitch-perfect performance brings the audience into his duplicity from the start, alternately cooing and wheedling to help Kath believe what she wants to believe, whilst his facial expressions tell a much darker story. In truth, Kath takes little fooling as her own longings, both for her lost child and for sexual gratification, do most of the work for him.
When Kath’s father, the myopic and irascible Kemp, appears, we get to know more of that story. Kemp seems to recognise Sloane as the hitchhiker who murdered his late boss. Unsurprisingly, Sloane denies it. Kemp hits Sloane on the leg with a toasting fork, thereby giving Kath the perfect pretext for removing his trousers to dress the wound. When he goes to lie down, Kath scolds Kemp and shows no sympathy when he says that nobody loves him and that he is dying.
Completing the quartet, we meet Kath’s brother, Ed. He is a bluff and pompous businessman, though the nature of his business is never revealed. We have learnt that his father refuses to speak to him since he caught him involved in a presumably homosexual act in his bedroom, from the door of which, tellingly, Kemp had removed the lock.
Ed has come to tell Kath to get rid of Sloane, citing reasons of respectability, fearing a sexual liaison may come about which might undermine his, and her, reputation. Kath tells him that her interest is purely maternal and one feels, despite all evidence to the contrary, that she almost believes it. On meeting Sloane, Ed is clearly attracted and, after establishing his possible pliability in no uncertain terms, offers him a job as his chauffeur. After slyly negotiating the right deal, Sloane accepts.
The scene is now set for an uneasy triangular menage and it plays out initially as one might have predicted. Kath and Ed are manipulated by Sloane. Kath and Sloane are sleeping together, and he is also keeping Ed happy. Ed is constantly threatening to sack him for his misdemeanours, always relenting out of pretended generosity of spirit when the reality is he cannot countenance his departure. Meanwhile, Sloane is constantly mistreating Kemp, which leads to the climactic events that foreshadow the shift of power in the conclusion of the play.
Cleverly directed by Matthew Hope and in a masterful set by Matthew Baines, this production hits all the right notes. Orton’s text is notoriously complex and often playing on two or more levels at once. Realism would be death to the piece as the actions of these self-absorbed and amoral characters would be intolerable in such a setting. Hope understands this and the Pinteresque, non-specific dialogue is appropriately pointed. The elements of absurdism are also appropriately played to the hilt.
Hope has been blessed with a very strong cast. None of the roles are easy. Sam Burrell’s Sloane is a splendid creation. Humorous, plausible and ingratiating, he can turn on a sixpence to convey believable psychopathic menace.
Alison Carr’s blousy Kath also catches the mood perfectly. Sucking sweets and alternating comically unbridled lust with a coy mock respectability, she also captures the steely self-interest that lies at the heart of the character.
Mike Smith offers strong support as the unfortunate Kemp, the only character that shows any signs of a moral compass. Though it is his selfish unwillingness to come forward and fulfil his moral duty that has sown the seeds of his undoing. In this hotbed of sexual impropriety, he may be seen as representing the so-called silent majority, maintaining the moral high ground, whilst hypocritically reluctant to take any action.
Sean Burnside as Ed has perhaps the most difficult task. He does an excellent job of conveying the arrogance of the pompous, self-deluding businessman but he also has the challenge of conveying the non-verbal signals that denote a homosexual in the context of the times. A touch more lasciviousness in his dealings with Sloane would have helped underline this.
The audience was held throughout from the slower, more expository first act, through to the delicious resolution of the third. Effective lighting, props and sound design complete the picture of a highly successful and professional production. One small gripe; I’m not sure some of the men’s costumes were entirely of the period, but that is to split hairs.
This is a highly enjoyable and stimulating night’s theatre that fully lives up to the People’s Theatre’s enduring reputation for excellence.
Cosi Fan Tutte
Opera North
Theatre Royal Newcastle
14 March 2024
Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto: Lorenzo da Ponte
Conductor: Clemens Schuldt
Lovers of Mozart’s finely crafted comic opera will need little encouragement to see Tim Albery’s masterly production, which has been in Opera North’s repertoire for 20 years now. Its continuing popularity is easy to explain; intelligent, intimate, humorous and clear, it serves the piece extremely well.
The production is set in a Camera Obscura, highlighting the fact that the plot is a scientific experiment being carried out by Quirijn Lang’s sardonic and authoritative Don Alfonso, a philosopher, setting out to prove that his two young friends’ ardent fiancées can be tempted into infidelity as, he asserts, can all women. Vowing to prove him wrong, the young noblemen are drawn into a wager and compelled to carry out Alfonso’s instructions for 24 hours to put their sweethearts to the test.
Initially, Alfonso announces to the ladies, sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella, that the men have to leave for war. The sisters are devastated as the men take their leave in a display of slightly comic desolation.
Bribing the ladies’ maid, the worldly Despina, to assist him, he dresses the young men as mysterious foreign suitors and disguised in outlandish clothes and moustaches, the young men each set out to woo the other’s fiancée.
Through various twists and turns including their pretending to take poison, only to be revived in a laugh-out-loud comic scene by Despina disguised as a physician, using magnets, the suitors eventually make their conquests and are in the process of being married by a fake notary (Despina again) when the sounds are heard of troops returning. The young men retire hurriedly on the pretext of hiding, to return in uniform as themselves. After some heartfelt confessions and much distressed pleading, they reveal themselves as the strangers and all is forgiven. Don Alfonso has won his bet, and an element of realism and pragmatism has been brought into the idyll of romantic love in which the young foursome had been living.
Beautiful costumes by Tobias Hoheisel keep the piece firmly in the Age of Enlightenment. Initially the two men are in matching uniform and wigs and the two women are similarly costumed and wigged identically, as befits the subjects of an experiment. As the plot advances however, they become less formal and more individual as their characters emerge.
The quartet of lovers are wonderfully portrayed. A friend of mine once told me that young people are made attractive so that one can more easily forgive their foolishness. These singers have the youthful charm to engage the audience, despite their characters’ silliness. Coupled with this, they are highly accomplished soloists, all well-suited to their roles. Henry Neill uses his pleasing baritone to good effect as Guglielmo, the more sardonic of the two lovers. Anthony Gregory as the ardent Ferrando delights with his sweet, lyrical tenor, particularly in the naively romantic aria ‘Our love is a flower’. Both have good acting instincts and deliver nicely contrasting characters with a great deal of humour.
Heather Lowe is a winsome, beguiling Dorabella, the more coquettish of the sisters, with a polished mezzo voice. Alexandra Lowe as the more steadfast Fiordiligi has a real warmth to her coloratura as well as the range and skill to deliver a showstopping rendition of her aria ‘Like a rock.’ Both also give engaging acting performances. It is amusing that the two share a surname but, despite playing sisters, they are not actually related.
Quirijn de Lang is a charmingly cynical Don Alfonso, making the most of all the comedy in the recitative sections as well as lending his strong flexible baritone to the trio ‘May the wind be gentle’, sung with the sisters as the men leave for war. Gilene Butterfield is a warmly rumbustious Despina, coaxing the girls to infidelity with her down to earth philosophy, and genuinely comic as the physician and the notary.
Clemens Schuldt as conductor makes the most of the wonderful Opera North orchestra and gives this delightful score full value and nuance.
This is a triumphant production that would serve as a perfect introduction to Mozart, as well as satisfying his most ardent fans.
Cavalleria Rusticana and Aleko
Opera North
Theatre Royal Newcastle 13/3/2024
Pietro Mascagni’s melodrama, Cavalleria Rusticana, is a staple in the opera repertoire, with its Easter Hymn and the intermezzo being firm favourites amongst music lovers. It tells the tale of jealousy and revenge in late 19th century rural Sicily. It is credited with almost single-handedly introducing the Verismo style of opera, where the behaviour and speech patterns of down-to-earth protagonists is faithfully represented, in contrast to the loftier conventions of the opera that preceded it.
Transporting the piece to rural Poland in the 1970’s and presenting it on an ugly, brutalist set, director Karolina Sofulak has sought to strip the story of any trace of the Mediterranean rural idyll and focus in on the raw intensity of the human relationships portrayed. This is a brave choice. There is no Easter parade through the streets, merely voices heard singing behind the monolithic hardboard crucifix that serves to represent the church. Much focus is given to Robert Hayward’s Alfio’s Polski Fiat taxi that serves as his representation of status. Rationing and limited availability of goods is taking its toll on Anne-Marie Owens’ authoritative Lucia in the almost bare shelves of the delicatessen she runs with her son, Andrés Presno’s petulant Turiddù.
The period setting has to answer for the costumes, which are often less than flattering, particularly Presno’s baggy brown suit.
Turiddù, angered and upset by the desertion of his girlfriend, Helen Ēvora’s passionate Lola to marry Alfio, has seduced the very religious Santuzza, portrayed by Giselle Allen with the requisite stiffness undermined by anguish.
Lola becomes tired of her husband and takes up again with Turiddù and Santuzza betrays them to Alfio who swears revenge. Turiddù has a form of redemption, realising how selfishly he has behaved and how he has hurt Santuzza so he asks his mother to take care of Santuzza before going to his fate. No offstage duel in this case but an onstage mafia-style execution inside the car.
The setting may be marmite to some but there is no denying the quality of the singing or the commitment to the acting by the whole cast. Presno’s ringing tenor calls to mind the young Pavarotti on occasion. Hayward is powerful and mellifluous. Allen’s strong mezzo meets all the demands of the role and Ēvora’s soprano is clear and persuasive.
Opera North has chosen to couple the piece with Rachmaninoff’s one-act opera, Aleko, a much less frequently heard one-acter, also dealing with jealousy and murder.
This adaptation of a Pushkin poem about a love triangle amongst a group of gypsies is here imaginatively set in a 90’s hippy commune. Casting Hayward as Aleko, starting the opera in the clothes he wore as Alfio, a choice is made to suggest he is the same man twenty years on, having withdrawn from normal society to live a more bohemian life with his new wife, Zemfira. This of course, loads a lot of weight on the character before the story has begun. When Elin Prichard’s free-spirited and kittenish Zemfira betrays him with another man his resulting brutal revenge can therefore come as little of a surprise, though Hayward’s performance is nuanced and his singing is polished and emotive in portraying his anguish at being betrayed and later banished. Matthew Stiff is commanding but sympathetic as Zemfira’s father and, as in the first piece, the chorus are pitch-perfect and authoritative. Harry Sever draws a splendid sound and a huge range of colours form the magnificent Opera North orchestra.
From this presentation, I would suggest that Aleko deserves to be heard more often. From the enchanting intermezzo to the romantic duettino, ‘just one more kiss’ delivered beautifully by Presno’s unnamed lover and Pritchard’s appealing soprano, as well as some appealing choruses, the score has much to enjoy.
The juxtaposition of the two operas and the staging choices make for a very interesting evening, whilst reaffirming Opera North’s ability to constantly deliver something new and exciting, without compromising on quality of performance.
The Pearl Fishers – Concert Performance 17 June 2023
Sage Gateshead
Music by Georges Bizet
Libretto by Michel Carré and Eugène Cormon edited by Hugh Macdonald
Presented by Opera North
Director: Matthew Eberhardt
Conductor: Matthew Kofi Waldren
A superbly performed and effectively dramatic concert version of Bizet’s early opera, long overshadowed by Carmen but incorporating one of the most popular duets in the opera repertoire.
The Pearl Fishers, set in ancient times in the island now known as Sri Lanka, relates the story of two childhood friends, Zurga and Nadir, in conflict over their love for the same woman. She in turn has to deal with the conflict between worldly love and her sworn vow of chastity as a priestess. When Nadir and Leila are caught together, Zurga, mad with jealousy, condemns them to death. Later he discovers that Leila was the young girl who had saved him from captivity some year before and decides to repay the debt and save them. He sets fire to the pearl fishermen’s tents to create a distraction, allowing the lovers to escape.
Opera North’s splendid orchestra, seen here on stage with the soloists, under the baton of Matthew Kofi Waldren, gave a lucid and stirring rendition of the score. Perhaps the music is less polished and complex than Carmen but there is much to enjoy, melodically and in terms of the emotion generated.
The signature aria that introduces the two friends, ‘Au fond du temple saint’ is given full value by Quirijn De Lang’s, commanding and statesmanlike Zurga and Nico Darmanin’s urgent and edgy Nadir. De Lang’s rich, fluid, and versatile baritone blends perfectly with Darmanin’s thrilling and lyrical tenor, combining with the orchestra in a virtuoso performance. The theme of the duet is echoed throughout the piece at key moments of the plot, returning like a wistful memory.
The priestess and object of both men’s affections , Leila, is performed by Sophia Theodorides, her effortless soprano bright and warm across her range, with a sparkling coloratura. The quartet of soloists is completed by James Cresswell’s rich and resplendent bass as Nourabad.
Matthew Eberhardt, the director is to be praised for the amount of drama and storytelling achieved in a concert performance without the spectacle provided by set and costumes. The early part of Act 3, where Zurga laments the rift with his boyhood friend in ‘ô Nadir, tendre ami de mon jeune ȃge’ and his confrontation with Leila, come to plead for Nadir’s life, were particularly gripping. De Lang is popular among Opera North’s audiences and it easy to see why.
This was a truly enjoyable evening, giving an opportunity to relish the full, rich sound of a top-notch orchestra skilfully directed, and four world-class soloists at the top of their game.
The Pearl Fishers can be seen at Hull City Hall on 24 June and at the Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham on 1 July.
The Beekeeper of Aleppo
Theatre Royal Newcastle
Until Saturday 10 June 2023
The bestselling chronicle of a refugee couple’s physical and emotional journey is adapted into a moving drama, well performed by an engaging cast.
Adapting Christy Lefteri’s novel for the stage was an ambitious undertaking, for which Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse deserve considerable credit. The story ranges over several countries on its way from Syria to Britain, through numerous characters and involving a great deal of loss, hardship and emotional anguish. Nesrin Alrefai and Matthew Spangler, the playwrights, say in the programme that they wanted to steer a path between the demonisation of refugees and the reductive approach of painting them as idealised victims. It is fair to say that they have broadly achieved that, though they use broader strokes when depicting the attitudes and language of the state representatives encountered on reaching the UK.
The play starts in Britain so there is no suspense about the physical journey’s end but the point of the play is whether Alfred Clay’s Nuri and his wife Afra, played by Roxy Faridany, can endure as a couple and recover from the emotional consequences of their odyssey.
After their contented and successful life in Syria is destroyed by conflict, and after Afra has contracted psychogenic blindness, Nuri and Afra escape to Turkey with the help of the first of a chain of harsh and unpleasant people smugglers. We are unclear as to what has happened to their only child. From there they take a boat to Greece and are stranded in an Athens park until they enter into some underworld dealing to fund their onward trip to the UK. The incidents that occur here have a profound effect on their already strained relationship. Along the way, Nuri befriends a small boy who later unaccountably disappears.
Nuri’s cousin and business partner, Mustafa, is already in the UK, ending up in Yorkshire where he is able to resume his beekeeping life. A troubled Nuri has begun to lose his grip on reality, is distanced from Afra and avoids contacting Mustafa because he cannot come to terms with what they have endured and what he feels he has become.
Having survived the exile from his homeland, can he make his way back from this more profound, self-imposed, emotional exile?
The central characters are well-drawn, and Clay gives a convincing portrayal of Nuri’s descent into despair. Faridany’s performance is also strong and nuanced. Joseph Long makes an excellent job of portraying two contrasting characters; the warm, nature-loving Mustafa and the gently comic Moroccan man who is enthusiastically grasping the British way of life and its language.
Nadia Williams’ charismatic portrayal of Angeliki and Aram Marsourian’s sinister Fotakis are highlights of the strong ensemble’s multiple roles in support.
An effectively versatile set by Ruby Pugh, music by Elaha Soroor and Tingying Dong’s sound design are all essential to the flow of the narrative, as is Ben Ormerod’s lighting design.
Miranda Cromwell’s direction is fluid and helps flesh out the parade of characters, largely avoiding caricature.
Overall, the characters are engaging, and the production stops short of being harrowing, despite portraying terrible loss and suffering. Somehow, it does not seem to be as gripping as it might have been but perhaps that is because of the lack of jeopardy in the structure, which replicates that of the source work.
This is an incredibly timely piece of theatre, fleshing out the human experience of the refugee in a well-researched and believable way. In a country that has allowed itself to be manipulated into blaming all its troubles on those escaping conflict rather than those who are actually in control, the human story needs to be told now, more than ever.
Ariadne Auf Naxos
Theatre Royal Newcastle 24/03/2023
Music by Richard Strauss
Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Presented by Opera North
Director: Rodula Gaitanou
Conductor: Anthony Hermus
A stylish and hugely entertaining blend of surreal comedy, romance and exquisite melody, beautifully performed by a stellar cast.
The concept of Ariadne Auf Naxos is somewhat bewildering; a grand opera troupe and a commedia dell’arte troop are due to perform on the same night for a wealthy and capricious patron, in this production the head of a movie studio in 1950’s Rome. To make time for the fireworks he has scheduled, the patron insists that the two entertainments be merged into one.
Divided into a Prelude and the performance proper, the work gives us first all the backstage action. This includes the despair of the young composer at seeing his masterwork bastardised in this way, the frustration of the diva at the undermining of her profoundly serious role, the glee of the commedia dell’arte troop at puncturing the pomposity of the grand opera company and the tenor’s temper tantrums over the styling of his wig. All this is tremendous fun, of course, and is played to the hilt by this versatile company. Also the 1950’s Italian setting allows for delicious costumes and the wonderfully cool vibe of Fellini’s heyday, much as evoked in the musical ‘Nine’.
Woven into this, however, are some lyrical and romantic melodies of real beauty, chiefly delivered by the young composer, sung by the wonderful lyric mezzo-soprano Hanna Hipp in the ‘breeches’ role. She evokes the audience’s sympathy as she falls under the spell of the perky comedienne Zerbinetta, a delicious performance by Jennifer France, a versatile soprano who sings, acts and dances through the piece, delivering her dazzling coloratura aria with great finesse. The third of the splendid sopranos, Elizabeth Llewellyn merely teases us during the prologue, leaving her moment in the spotlight to the opera proper.
The second half starts with Llewellyn’s Ariadne marooned on a rock by her faithless lover Theseus, with the spirits of the island dancing and singing around her. She dreams only of death and the arrival of Hermes to take her to the underworld. She is a virtuoso soprano of power and finesse and Strauss’s score gives her plenty of opportunity to demonstrate this. Again, in the midst of absurdity we are presented with great beauty, which is perhaps the essence of this delightful and enigmatic opera.
The commedia troupe, Alex Banfield, Adrian Dwyer and John Savournin, in setting out to cheer her up, show real comic skill and Dominic Sedgwick’s Harlequin is charismatic and engaging, as he sees his lover Zerbinetta being taken away form him by the composer. In the denouement, David Butt Philip’s tenor appears as Bacchus and falls for Ariadne, who ultimately accepts his suit and he rescues her. He is a heroic tenor of real skill and vocal quality and he admirably matches Llewellyn in their soaring and romantic duet.
Opera North’s splendid orchestra is under the baton of Anthony Hermus, who is well up to all the twists and turns of this quirky but ultimately, hugely melodic score.
This was an evening of sheer delight. Something that starts out as if it would deliver something in the manner of The Play That Goes Wrong becomes the opera that goes, in every way, supremely right. Setting the piece in the film studio was inspired and director Rodula Gaitano and choreographer Victoria Newlyn are to be applauded for the flawless performances they have elicited from their versatile and hugely talented company.
TOSCA
Theatre Royal Newcastle 23/03/2023
Music by Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by Giuseppe Giacoso and Luigi Illica, after the play by Victorien Sardou
Presented by Opera North
Director Edward Dick
Conductor Garry Walker
A tense and dramatic modern dress version, strikingly staged and sensitively sung, with genuinely chilling moments amongst the lush romantic arias.
Tosca is one of the greatest works of a hugely popular composer. As such, it has been continuously in the opera repertoire, providing a vehicle for many great tenors, from Caruso to Domingo and sopranos such as Maria Callas and Angela Georghiu. Always a popular success, it has had its share of brickbats from the critics, chiefly in respect of the plot. Nevertheless, the richly layered and stirring score contains some of the most beloved arias in all Grand Opera. The narrative is also richly dramatic and gives excellent performance opportunities to the characters, particularly Scarpia, the corrupt and priapic police chief, a plum role for a bass baritone.
This production is played out in modern-day Rome. The set design by Tom Scutt is beautiful and atmospheric. It features a domed painted ceiling, that the painter Cavaradossi is in the process of renovating in the first act, set around by spotlights and racks of candles to suggest initially the interior of a church. The dome is repositioned throughout, looking like a canopy in the second act, set in Scarpia’s elegantly modern bedroom and like a giant eye, as the castle ramparts for act 3.
The story concerns Cavaradossi’s relationship with the famous singer, Floria Tosca and the pursuit of her by Scarpia in the midst of civil unrest that Scarpia seeks to quash by capturing and executing the escaped rebel leader, Cesare Angelotti, who is being sheltered by Cavaradossi.
Scarpia manages to use Tosca’s quick and jealous nature to make her suspect her lover of infidelity, and lead to his arrest. Scarpia then tortures Cavaradossi to coerce her to betray Angelotti, which she does. To save Cavaradossi’s life, he persuades her to sleep with him but Tosca has other ideas, leading to a graphic and bloody outcome, stunningly staged.
Tosca then runs to Cavaradossi with the passport Scarpia has given her, telling him his planned execution is to be a sham and that they will flee Rome together. However, the police chief has one more card to play from beyond the grave…
The modern setting gives this production an edge, making the drama more immediate with genuinely shocking moments like black clad executioners in balaclavas, conjuring memories of the Northern Irish troubles and other recent guerrilla conflicts. Moments like Scarpia watching the celebrations outdoors on his laptop and filming Tosca on his mobile phone, work surprisingly well. Robert Hayward’s silky baritone and his imposing presence make for a very modern villain. No moustache-twirling caricature here but a measured and nuanced performance, showing the inner conflict between his sexual drive and his religious convictions.
Cavaradossi, was physically portrayed by Andrés Presno, though illness meant that he was unable to sing the role. This task fell to Luis Chapa, hastily brought up from London to save the show. The announcement of this brought some consternation from sections of the audience but they need not have worried. Singing from the corner of the stage, he delivered a sensitive but powerful performance of the score and one soon accepted the duality of Presno’s movement with Chapa’s voice.
If he was, forgivably, a little tentative at first, he soon hit his stride and his rendition of the climactic aria, E lucevan le stelle, was thrilling. He also showed real sweetness in the softer passages and blended beautifully with Magdalena Molendowska’s Tosca, no mean feat under the circumstances. Presno managed well in his thankless task of providing Tosca with a physical presence to work with.
Molendowska was a fiery but vulnerable Tosca, a true dramatic soprano with strength throughout her range and a ringing top register. Delivering the signature aria, Vissi d’arte from a recumbent position, as has become almost customary, would test any soprano and she was more than up to the task.
Callum Thorpe, a memorable poacher from Tuesday’s Cunning Little Vixen, showed his versatility in a richly sung cameo as the harried Angelotti.
Edward Dick has delivered a gripping and dramatic production, convincingly acted and genuinely memorable. Opera North’s chorus provided splendid support with moments of great impact and the marvellous orchestra, sensitively led by Garry Walker, gave the beloved score full value.
There are further performances on Saturday 25 March at 19.00 in Newcastle, and 30 March and 1 April at Hull New Theatre.
The Cunning Little Vixen
Theatre Royal Newcastle 21/03/2023
Music and text by Leoš Janáček
Revised version by Jiri Zahrádka
Presented by Opera North
A visually stunning, amusing and earnestly sung presentation of a capricious and charming opera, underpinned by a splendid orchestra