Sky Ingram, Alcina; Patrick Terry, Ruggiero; Mari Askvik, Bradamante; Fflur Wyn, Morgana; Nick Pritchard, Oronte, Claire Pascoe, Melissa. Laurence Cummings, Conductor; Tim Albery, Director; Hannah Clark, Set and Costume Designer;
“Tim Albery‘s new production is inspired by Princess Margaret’s Mustique or Richard Branson’s Necker – a very private, tropical island retreat. In this case, the island is the home of a woman of great beauty, power and wealth who, siren-like, seduces and entrances men, casting them aside when she grows bored with them. This is Alcina. She meets her match in a newly-arrived young man, in fact a woman in disguise come to reclaim her fiancé from Alcina’s enchantment.”
“As they and the rest of Alcina’s entourage become trapped by their ever more complex fears and desires, the sun-drenched beach is left behind and they lose themselves deeper and deeper in the darkening forest, becoming little more than wild beasts, all sophistication stripped away…”
Thus the publicity on the Opera North website. The set is box-like – with a video screen covering the back, and banks of lights above and to each side. The effect is to emphasise the artificiality, the closed in-ness of the island on which the characters find themselves or on which they see based. The lights perhaps are also reminiscent of a night club – another place of fantasy. The lights at the beginning and end of each Act moved to stage level – again emphasising a probing reality beyond the island. The video screen showed the journey to the island and then moved inland through the tropical trees and ferns and creepers. The video movement through the trees seemed a bit arbitrary and didn’t seem particularly linked to the plot the moving inwards. The video wasn’t used – a bit to my disappointment – to suggest the clearing of Ruggiero’s vision to see all Alcina’s transformed former lovers transformed into trees etc……! The only props were some up market seaside-type furniture and a bear-skin. Costumes were broadly contemporary, apart from Alcina’s ball gown which seemed to be from an earlier period. All costumes and props were recycled and the opera was billed as the first fully sustainable opera production in the UK
The Forest of Arden came to my mind and the island of Alcina seemed similarly a laboratory for relationships. In this production all the protagonists are young people, and relationships is what obsesses them – who’s in love with who and who self and others really are. Mainstream critics were a bit dismissive of Tim Albery’s production but I thought it was very effective, if slightly low-key. All the singers acted credibly and moved imaginatively in the long da capo arias. The ins and outs of the plot were clearly followable. Nothing was exaggerated – there was no obtrusive concept distorting action or characters. We felt for Alcina in her lovely aria Il mio coro and for Ruggiero, Morgana, Oronte and Bradamante. Some reviewers felt too much had been cut for this ‘performing edition’ – an hour some said – but to me two and a half hours of Handel is enough, and I didn’t feel that the plot suffered unduly from the cuts. On occasion perhaps the recitative element seemed a bit short and we plunged from one long aria to another a bit too quickly, but that was fine by me, given the variety of the music. I really enjoyed the music – every number seemed a hit! The music in its energy, brilliance melancholy and pain was not just illuminating the feelings and the complexities of the characters but also in its creative zest was life affirming. The sheer fecundity of invention makes you feel better!
But to have impact in this work, as with other Handel operas, you have to have absolutely first rate singers capable of the vocal acrobatics the style demands. While none of the singers could perhaps be described as outstanding no-one was less than highly competent and all had particular high points. Handel also gives each of them a lot to do!
The stand out singers perhaps were Morgana (particularly her set-piece Act 1 aria ‘Tornami a vagheggiar’) and Oronte, in terms of the clarity of their runs and their beauty of tone. But Ruggerio and Bradamante matched them on occasion. The Alcina was Sky Ingram, a late replacement for an indisposed Máire Flavin, who had a tall imposing stage presence. Her voice sounded a bit large and unwieldy for this music, but she got more nimble as the work proceeded.
I really enjoyed this evening – much more than I was expecting!!!!
John's musical journey 