Opera Review: The Marriage of Figaro - Welsh National Opera at WMC ✭✭✭½
The Marriage of Figaro
W A
Mozart
Welsh National Opera at
WMC
Review by Sebastian Petit
20th February 2016:This
was a curiously schizophrenic evening as the director, Tobias Richter, seemed unable to make up his mind how he wanted to
present the opera. The show opened with an extended dumbshow with various key
characters lounging around on prop skips while the audience entered. Nobody
appeared to be doing anything significant except, possibly, waiting. Finally,
as the house lights dipped, Figaro makes a brash entrance through the auditorium
in full, traditional period costume. He chases everyone offstage and a front
drop descends and, at last, the overture starts. Fortunately, after all this
mummery, the ever excellent Lothar Koenigs
takes it at a tremendous lick. So much so that one has a slight sense of a man
making up for lost time. Happily the WNO orchestra are more than equal to the
task and play with both beautiful tone and crisp articulation throughout the
evening. For some unknown reason the walkways at the edges of the pit and the
acting area downstage of the cloth remained brightly lit throughout the
overture as if there had originally been some significant business during this section
that the director, having cut it, failed to inform the lighting designer.
After
the overture the curtain rose on an entirely changed set and at least in terms
of costume and blocking we appeared to be in a traditional Figaro production. However,
the set, designed by the distinguished veteran designer, Ralph Koltai, consisted of two massive panels hung from a hideous
gantry that was unmasked in any way and constantly caught the light. These
panels, of progressively more unattractive design, were, no doubt, intended to
create fluid changes between scenes by opening out and closing down to create
large public areas or small intimate spaces. Several factors militated against
the success of this well-intentioned concept. Firstly the sheer size of the
panels dominates to an uncomfortable degree especially in the early scenes.
Secondly, because the areas behind the panels are often lit, one is
uncomfortably aware of the scene-movers lurking in wait for the next cue. It is
hard to believe that this tawdry setting was the work of one of the great names
in theatre design responsible for gorgeous and innovative work with companies
including the RSC (a wonderful “Cyrano” with Jacobi particularly lives on in my
memory), ENO and the Royal Opera. Worse, the director further undermined the
setting by allowing the scene changes effected by crew, dressed in standard
blacks and sporting radio headsets, to be “staged” in near full light. The
change to the Countess’ rooms felt interminable and was an embarrassment. The
members of the crew made several other unlooked for appearances including
setting a table, chair and wine for Marcellina’s unjustifiably restored Act IV
aria. Even when sung by Susan Bickley,
this section holds up the action to a disastrous degree.
Meanwhile,
after the overture, the director seemed to have abandoned the initial concept
and settled on a fairly traditional Figaro production. Fortunately most of this
production was excellent and inestimably aided by Jeremy Sams’ much travelled translation. In my view it is a darker
work than Richter allows (there is little sense of a milieu on the brink of a
revolutionary precipice here) but much of the comedy was laugh-out-loud funny
including a hilarious visual gag with Susannah and her guitar.
In
the drama the females are constantly one step ahead of their male counterparts
and it was true also of the singing last night. The crowning performance was
undoubtedly Elizabeth Watts’
Countess. Now graduated from Susanna in the previous WNO production Watts shows
she is fully equal to the promotion in rank crowning her performance with a
magnificent “Porgi amor”. She has an equal co-conspirator in Anna Devin’s utterly delightful
Susanna. Coming swiftly on the heels of her lovely ROH Nanetta, Devin is
carving out a significant career. Her “Deh vieni” was a lovely moment of calm
amidst the chaos of the garden scene. Naomi
O’Connell is a full toned and hilariously gawky Cherubino perfectly
capturing the youth not yet fully in control of his body or libido.
As
previously indicated the men were not quite on this level. Best of the bunch
was Mark Stone’s handsome Count. He
hilariously caught a man entirely used to getting his own way unable to
comprehend how people keep running rings round him. His Act III aria was
extremely well sung but dramatically there is more to find in this moment of
private collapse. David Stout was a
hyperactively lively and attractive Figaro but I found the voice a touch on the
light side and lacking in the sense of danger that a great Figaro brings to the
role. His great moment of private grief in Act IV seemed less harrowing than it
should be.
Of
the secondary roles, Michael Clifton
Thompson stepped ably into the breach for an ailing Alan Oke and Susan Bickley was a formidable Marcellina. For some
reason Rhian Lois appeared to have
been encouraged to play Barbarina as if her life literally depended on her
every line.
As
indicated earlier there is a good production here desperately trying to escape
a hideous set. Nevertheless, the musical performances, especially those of
Watts and Devin, more than make up for the deficiencies
