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…
Escape to the country: Bernstein’s Candide at Iford
This whirling, high-energy collaboration between Iford Arts and Opera Della Luna packs every possible punch in a furiously creative evening of constant costume changes, an endlessly reassembling set, and above…
Clean, clear, and at a canter: Gilbert and Sullivan’s Ruddigore, Cambridge University Gilbert & Sullivan Society
On a clean, largely clear stage, dotted with a few barrels and benches, a tidy vegetable stand to one side and a pub sign, The Four Bears, to the other,…
Vivacious, Victorian, and very good fun: Ruddigore, Gilbert & Sullivan, Southgate Opera
We tend to think of Victorian society as morally strict, judgemental, and socially tense: and Gilbert and Sullivan’s Ruddigore, while confirming all the above, savagely pokes fun at Victorian ideals…
Fresh, funny, frivolous: Gilbert & Sullivan’s Patience from English Touring Opera
A joyous explosion of tuneful Victorian satire provides an unlikely, yet ideal, contrast to English Touring Opera‘s Tosca as their Patience tours the UK in this finely-cast, period-perfect rendition. Director Liam…
Melodic, comic, colonial: Franz von Suppé’s A Trip to Africa
A sense of real excitement surrounded the revival (and UK premiere) of Franz von Suppé’s A Trip to Africa at the Maddermarket Theatre, the culmination of several years of work…
Adventure on the opera horizon: Preview of Franz von Suppé’s A Trip to Africa
Any great opera experience is, to some extent, a process of discovery. Whether I find myself reimagining a familiar piece thanks to incisive direction, noticing an aria afresh due to…
Batman robbing: Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, Fulham Opera
Fulham Opera, noted in recent years for their serious and compelling Wagner and Verdi output, are also not shy of comedy (as demonstrated by their very successful Falstaff). Die Fledermaus…