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Alcina & Falstaff English Touring Opera Wycombe Swan 21/22 October 2005
Handel - Alcina
Conductor – Gary Cooper Director – James Conway Designer – Joanna Parker Lighting – Tina MacHugh
Alcina – Amanda Echalez Morgana – Tamsin Coombs Ruggiero – Louise Poole Bradamante – Marie Elliott Davies Oronte – Ashley Catling Melisso – Charles Johnston
Full marks to ETO for this year's autumn tour consisting of two excellent and well contrasted productions which they will be touring to 26 theatres throughout the country, many in places where little opera other is available. I caught up with them in High Wycombe. Alcina is an adult fantasy set on an enchanted isle where all are under the spell of Alcina's fickle whim. She has turned cast-off suitors and opponents into a random collection of animals and inanimate objects. In this production the back of the stage, at a slightly different level, represented the real world with a row of high backed chairs. To the front is Alcina's misaligned kingdom furnished with a fallen chandelier that doesn't light, a virginal which does not play, flowers that do not smell, and characters whose normal freedom has been limited.
The current subject of Alcina's attraction is Ruggiero, held under a spell that has erased his memory. His wife Bradamante (accompanied by tutor Melisso) has come to rescue him posing as her brother Ricciardo.
The plot interweaves around these confused identities with both Alcina and sister Morgana being attracted to the disguised Bradamante, whilst Ruggiero remains confused and unsure whom to believe. There isn't a lot of rhyme or reason, it is played like a surrealist dream in elegant 17 th century costume, but Handel's continual outpouring of wonderful music carries it through to the finale when Alcina's powers are defeated and her prisoners restored to their normal shapes.
Amanda Echalez gave a towering performance in the title role, and all members of the cast were impressive. Worthy of special mention were Tamsin Coombs (Morgana) showing an engagingly sprightly tone, and Ashley Catling who sang his arias with a correctly light weight whilst maintaining the gravitas of a general.
[See also Alcina at ENO]
Verdi Falstaff
Director Damiano Michieletto Designer – Joanna Parker Lighting – Tina MacHugh
Sir John Falstaff – Andrew Slater Bardolph – Ronald Samm Pistol – Alan Fairs Dr Caius – Christopher Ovenden Ford – Craig Smith Alice Ford – Julie Unwin Meg Page – Wendy Dawn Thompson Mistress Quickly – Harriett Williams Nanetta – Rebecca Bottone Fenton – Thomas Walker
On seeing the brightly coloured costumes and simple box like set for this production my first thoughts turned to a Punch & Judy show, and in fact it is quite an apposite analogy for this opera. Both Punch and Falstaff are larger than life characters and inveterate rogues who don't deceive the audience for a moment. The players that surround them may be different, but both principals are ridiculed and humiliated – beaten up and arrested or bundled out in a laundry basket, terrified by a crocodile or ghostly hunter - before they finally come to terms with their situation.
In fact the characters in this Falstaff are far from being skin deep parodies, each individual has been carefully studied and portrayed. Furthermore, almost every word of Andrew Porter's translation was clearly audible allowing the audience to enjoy the humour to the full – this was opera in English as it should be ! Jonathan Dove's reduced orchestration was ideal in the circumstances, and Stuart Stratford kept it moving at a good pace.
As with Alcina, the cast were all worthy of praise. Andrew Slater was a strong central figure (with his height adding amusingly to the difficulty of hiding him), and the experienced pairing of Alan Fairs and Ronald Samm as Pistol and Bardolph carried off their routines suavely. Craig Smith was a commanding Ford, impressive in rage, and Julie Unwin made a resourceful Alice . Wendy Dawn Thompson was luxury casting as Meg, and I particularly liked Harriet Williams' strong mezzo and straight faced Mistress Quickly. Thomas Walker and Rebecca Bottone made a fine pair of young lovers, who both sang very sweetly.
In short, two thoroughly enjoyable evenings of opera, with the bonus of their being in a local theatre at very affordable prices.
Serena Fenwick
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Conductor – Stuart Stratford