Partenope is a perfect comic storm of seduction, jealousy, fidelity and infidelity, gender-bending and downright skulduggery, anchored in the sharp human tension of true love. Many of these tropes are familiar Handel fare, but Partenope is set apart by the unnerving genuineness of its emotional dynamics, which ripple and transform from scene to scene, as the game of love grows ever more serious – even dangerous – before a clever, slightly naughty final trick brings home love’s final triumph.
Director Christopher Cowell exploits this opera’s innate human interest with warm dramatic instincts in a vivid, joyful and thoroughly entertaining production for Iford Arts.
