L'ORMINDO
Royal Opera and
Shakespeare's Globe at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
28.03.2014
The
latest show to road test the candelit intimacy of this new Jacobean
space is a fresh new version of Cavalli's baroque
panto. It boasts a new English libretto by Christopher Cowell –
hard to see how surtitles could fit here – and in this ideal
acoustic every syllable is clearly heard.
Every
orifice of the theatre is used, including the trap and the fly-tower,
from which Destiny and Music descend singing, the latter to give a
witty new prologue to the piece.
Casper
Holten's production has plenty of sight gags and slapstick, the
Venetian period costumes are a feast for the eyes, but it's the
glorious singing [though not much of the score is in the Monteverdi
league] that make this such a memorable evening: the four young
lovers – really young, not just in operatic terms – are
outstanding.
In the
musician's gallery, Christian Curnyn's period band add further
authenticity, but if we're thinking original instruments, chief
credit must surely go to the playhouse itself …
production
photograph of Harry
Nicoll as Eryka ©Alastair Muir
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