A Ring around the world
Two exciting things are happening this Sunday, 13th November. In London, Regents Opera open their brand new, pared-down orchestration of Wagner’s Das Rheingold at Freemasons Hall, Covent Garden, the start…
Dimness before dawn: Noah Mosley’s Aurora
If Aylin Bozok is directing anything at Grimeborn, I always try to go. I’ve been absolutely blown away by her past productions: her powerfully considered, exquisitely poised approach is always…
Not much unfolding: Origami Soundscapes /The Crane, Grimeborn
I have to admit – I’m a sucker for a bit of rarefied Japanese elegance on stage in almost any context: the very mention of Noh theatre always makes my…
Social media via Strauss: Baseless Fabric’s Die Fledermaus
“I’m not saying I’m Batman. I’m just saying nobody has ever seen me and Batman in a room together,” reads the slogan on trendy Falke’s ironic t-shirt. Furious at a recent…
Blitz spirit: Rossini’s Comte Ory, Grimeborn
Rossini’s Le Comte Ory is a flirtatious farce in which a naughty young Count drives everyone demented with his relentless erotic enthusiasms: and it glitters, musically and dramatically, with madcap Rossinian flair…
Grimeborn’s glittering treasure: Das Rheingold, Wagner
The Ring Cycle is opera’s biggest box set: a sixteen-hour binge of dwarves, nymphs, dragons, gods, heroes and monsters, all suspended inside one of the greatest philosophical conundrums expressed by…
My mad monodramas: Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson /Miss Havisham’s Wedding Night
A pairing of two American music dramas promised plenty of angsty feminist fun for a Friday night at Grimeborn; and I admit, in less accomplished hands, the angst might have…
Overpruned to wilting point: Violetta, Grimeborn
Violetta is a reduction of Verdi’s La traviata, using only three characters: the doomed courtesan Violetta, her idealistic yet immature lover Alfredo, and – surprise! Alfredo’s mother. Yes, Germont père is exchanged…
Greek perfection at Grimeborn 2018: GREEK, Turnage
Like the roar of an older, bolder London, Mark-Anthony Turnage’s GREEK bounces snarling onto the Grimeborn stage, celebrating its thirtieth anniversary in the first ever revival of its world premiere production for…
Hurtling into blankness: Entanglement! An Entropic Tale at Tête à Tête
Opera and physics: as a combination, what could possibly go wrong? As I briefly scanned one of the many programme notes generously supplied for the brave audience of Entanglement! An…
Bad boys go head to head: Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Grimeborn
Lucia di Lammermoor is an opera of shocking brutality, with savage emotional aggression rivalling physical violence throughout its fast-paced plot. Fulham Opera’s reduction for Grimeborn brings Donizetti’s dark, doomed characters…