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‘Four boxes, six screens, four chairs and a tree”: the sum total of scenery for Wild Arts’ new English-language production of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro is modest by operatic standards. This staging needs to travel light, since it’s destined for performances in more than 20 arts centres, theatres, churches and gardens across the UK over the next three months. But leave pondering the logistics to the professionals – the miraculous thing about this bare-essentials Figaro is how well it works in situ. Particularly given that its director is entirely new to the role.
Danielle de Niese is not just any first-timer, of course. The Australian-born, Glyndebourne-dwelling star soprano made her debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera aged 19 as Barbarina in Mozart’s opera, and in the decades since has sung the role of Susanna all over the world. Few directorial newbies could match such inside-out knowledge of this work and its characters.
The look of De Niese’s production is historical (a frock coat and corset-clad late-18th century) but the movement straightforwardly modern, slick and just the right side of slapstick-silly for a summer’s evening. The opera’s inbuilt gag of too many people trying to hide behind not enough furniture becomes even funnier on a tiny stage with limited staging apparatus and an in-the-round audience sitting within arm’s reach. Cherubino escapes by hurling himself apologetically into the one-to-a-part instrumental ensemble. The Count and Countess furiously ignore each other as the latter takes a long, loud slurp of tea. There are flipper-gestures and comedy voices and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it instance of dad-dancing. Most of the recitatives whip past. Stillness is fleeting, emerging only for the length of the mostly explicitly serious arias.
Such a high-energy approach was matched by exceptionally fine, frequently charismatic playing from the minute “orchestra” conducted by Orlando Jopling in his own arrangement of the score. It was also ideally tailored to the dynamic, intensely committed cast. If Timothy Nelson’s Count was more brutish and Elinor Rolfe Johnson’s Countess more dim-witted than usual, their fantasy reconciliation during the Countess’s heartbreaking second aria was genuinely affecting. Olivia Ray’s Marcellina was poised and elegant while repeatedly talked over by Timothy Dawkins’ Bartolo. Abbie Ward’s narrow, slightly metallic soprano gleamed as Cherubino, William Searle was clearly having fun as Don Basilio and Don Curzio and Eleanor O’Driscoll was a suitably bright-voiced, giggly Barbarina.
Best of all were Jack Sandison’s Figaro – burnished and wonderfully resonant – and Ellie Neate’s Susanna, who dipped fearlessly into speech in certain dialogues but sang elsewhere with pure liquid beauty. At ease and utterly convincing both vocally and dramatically, these two are undoubtedly en route to much, much bigger stages. Catching them on such a small one is among the real pleasures of this production.
· On tour nationwide until 27 September
English (US) ·