Nottingham Theatre Royal – 16th March 2022
Reviewed by Louise Ford
5*****
Not everything is black or white when it comes to curses…
Last night’s performance was introduced by Richard Mantle (General Director of Opera North), he gave a moving speech about the importance of the Arts in the time of struggle and war. He read out a message which referenced not only the current conflict in The Ukraine but also the Opera North Ensemble which includes singers from both Ukraine and Russia. The whole audience stood for the Ukrainian National Anthem. It was a moving start to a wonderful night of Opera.
I went to last night’s performance with my daughter who hasn’t seen any live opera performances before, although she and her sister were sent off to sleep by various arias and musical pieces when they were little, so she is no stranger to the music. By way of preparation I sent her a synopsis of Verdi’s Rigoletto. Whilst she was looking forward to seeing the production she had some reservations about the subject matter. It is difficult to reconcile the storyline (based on Victor Hugo’s Le Roi s’amuse) with today’s moral code about rights and sexual abuse.
Taking this last point first this production ( directed by Femi Elufowoju jnr) takes the central theme of the opera, Rigoletto a hunchbacked court jester who keeps his daughter (Gilda) hidden away to protect her from philandering 16th century aristocrats. And casts Rigoletto as a black man with a vulnerable daughter who he hides away to protect her from the Duke and a bunch of entitled white men who cannot be trusted around women. The dynamic between Rigoletto ( Eric Greene (absolutely fantastic ) and Gilda (Jasmine Habersham) is superb. The roles are played with tenderness and strength and just the right amount of vulnerability and torment.
The opera is made up of three acts and has four main scenes. The sets and costume design (Rae Smith) are an interesting mixture of modern day scenes with an added pinch of exotic colour and glamour, along with traditional agbada and dashiki for Count Monterone (Sir Willard White) and Marullo (Themba Mvula). On the whole the sets are not too distracting from the action although the scene with the life sized zebra and the closing scene with the wrecked car and pop up tent still has me puzzled. Having said that the singing is wonderful, Roman Arendt makes a great sneering and leering Duke and Sir Willard White (Count Monterone) whose strong presence and curse is crucial to the way the story unfolds for Rigoletto, has a powerful stage presence.The conductor at last night’s performance was Garry Walker. It was a full house in Nottingham last night and the audience really enjoyed the performance with several standing ovations which seemed to take the company by surprise!