Operissima

Charlotte Valori reviews opera & theatre: in East Anglia and beyond…

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Fringe

More smoke than fire: Die Walküre, Grimeborn

Grimeborn are following up their fantastic 2019 Das Rheingold (see my previous review) with Die Walküre this year. Moving to the gorgeous Hackney Empire, with the Orpheus Sinfonia comfortably ensconced in the pit, this production…

August 5, 2021 in Bühnenfestspiel, Fringe.

Swoonsome swashbuckling: Cabildo, Grimeborn

Director Emma Jude Harris “couldn’t believe her luck” when she discovered Cabildo, the only opera by pioneering composer Amy Beach: her witty, dynamic production of this passionate chamber piece glows with…

August 31, 2019 in Fringe, Opera.

Graceful gestures: Hotspur & Pierrot Lunaire, Grimeborn

The double bill of Gillian Whitehead’s Hotspur with Schoenberg’s great Modernist Pierrot Lunaire is the first outing for innovative opera company formidAbility, which seeks to bring disabled and non-disabled professional artists together on (and…

August 30, 2019 in Fringe, Opera.

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…

August 24, 2019 in Fringe, Opera.

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…

August 15, 2019 in Fringe, Operetta.

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…

August 3, 2019 in Fringe, Opera.

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…

August 1, 2019 in Fringe, Opera.

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…

August 10, 2018 in Fringe, New writing, Opera.

Truly, madly, eclectically: Whole Punch, Waste Paper Opera

As you walk into the Rosemary Branch, it feels like any other smart North London pub, with a mouthwatering menu at eyewatering prices served in an atmosphere of mannered, steely…

March 17, 2018 in Cabaret, Fringe, New writing, Opera.

Pick a side: Schutzwall at Tête à Tête

Although opera is traditionally associated with grand narrative structures, sometimes its heightened psychological intensity can be remarkably effective at drawing us into an intimate historical moment, and just keeping us…

August 29, 2017 in Fringe, New writing, Opera.

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