OPERA HEADLINERS OF THE YEAR From the Desk of Lyn Walker, Ian Failey, Ronald Bloom Ehprem Gourion, Ben Zorab, Judy Goldsmith
A Midsummer Night's Dream
at The Comedy Theatre, London.
RATING:
Just
as it should be, Edward Hall's production is one of magic, shadows and
laughter, and a gleeful sense of possibility. Working with an all-male cast,
he renders the play fresh and - crucially - dreamlike all over again. I have
not laughed so much, nor been so moved, in any other production. The male cast
might sound gimmicky, but doesn't feel it: you forget about gender to ponder
the play's central concerns, and drink-in its ravishing visual confidence. The
fairy world is full of colour (Puck looks a rather wasted new romantic in his
white tutu and red-and-white-striped tights); the mechanicals are bathed in
warm light and dressed like a confused barber-shop singing troupe; and the
world of the court is darkly, monochromatically glacial. A row of chairs
suspended in mid-air gives Michael Pavelka's set a productive split-level
feel, echoing the play's attention to two worlds - the human and fairy, the
real and the dreamy. Oberon and Titania sit high above the set on what look
like umpires' chairs, while below the fairies snooze in a cuddle of bodies, a
soft curve of sleep. It's as if the toy cupboard really has come to life in
the quiet of night, and sweet mayhem is about to break out. In that mayhem,
there are some astonishing performances. But the power of the production is as
a whole, and very much in the details as much as the key scenes. This is a
Dream put together by a magician. Watching it is like watching silvery glitter
shimmer and fall through the air - light, sensual and rare, and totally
compelling.-Elisabeth Mahouney.
Michael
trained at Wimbledon School of Art, where he has since returned to lead the
Theatre Design course. He has designed some 150 productions, most of which
have been new plays or new musicals. His work includes two shows for the late
Lindsey Anderson: "The Fishing Trip" and "Holiday" (Old Vic
Theatre). Also "The Life of Galileo" (Best Design Manchester Evening
News Theatre Awards), "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (Best Production MEN
Awards) also "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui" and "The Caucasian
Chalk Circle" (Library Theatre Manchester). His ongoing work with Edward
Hall and Propeller Company includes productions of "Twelfth Night", "Henry
V" and the adaptation of Henry VI plays, "Rose Rage" at the
Watermill Theatre, Theatre Royal Haymarket and overseas tour. Other work in
the West End includes: "Macbeth", "The Constant Wife", "How the Other Half
Loves", "Other People's Money" and "Leonardo"; "Blues in the
Night" was performed in Dublin, New York, Tokyo after two West End
seasons. In 1998 Michael co-produced a Young People's Shakespeare Festival in
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and has since designed "Mother Courage and Her
Children" in Kampala, at the Kennedy Center, Washington DC and Grahamstown
Festival, South Africa. Designs for the Royal Shakespeare Company include
"The Odyssey", "Two Gentlemen of Verona", "Henry V" and "Julius Caesar".
The Taming of the Shrew
at The Shakespeare's
Globe, London.
Men are such babies. In fact, such silly little
babies in Phyllida Lloyd's all-female The Taming of the Shrew that they have
to be humoured into thinking they are getting their own way. Kathryn Hunter's
intelligent but emotionally damaged Katherina is not so much tamed by love as
redeemed by it, and Janet McTeer's Petruchio has his world turned upside down
by it. He is no longer at the centre of the universe, but a partner in it with
Katherina, a woman who knows that there are many ways to keep the peace and
still enjoy the war. Lloyd's production is intriguing, and not just for its
all-female casting. All-male productions of Shakespeare often have a
heightened erotic charge, and there is something similar here between the
bear-like Petruchio and Katherina, who hops about like a wounded, beady-eyed
sparrow. Even when Petruchio is at his most foul (and McTeer spares us nothing
of his misogyny), you still long for them to get it together. None the less,
there is more than sex to this production. This is an evening very much about
growing up and taking your place in the world as an adult. Katherina's
behaviour - biting, scratching, tying up her sister - is that of the nursery.
Petruchio has become the head of the family following the death of his father,
but has not learned to act as one. This Katherina and Petruchio force each
other to grow up, while Bianca and Lucentio remain children. The production
sometimes lacks subtlety, but there is some terrific fun in guying the rituals
and mannerisms of men, and Hunter and McTeer are astonishing.-Lynne Gardner.
Kathryn
Hunter makes her debut with West Bay Opera, having sung extensively in Europe
and here in the United States. She recently returned from Israel where she
performed with the Israeli Symphony in the newly-completed Tel Aviv Opera
House. She has appeared as a soloist in Mozart's Requiem, Bach's
Saint Matthew Passion, Handel's Messiah, and the soprano soloist in
Mendelssohn's Elijah. Having performed the roles of Count Orlofsky in
Die Fledermaus, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, as well as
others, she now includes in her repertoire the Wagnerian roles of Elizabeth in
Tannhaüser, Elsa in Lohengrin, and Sieglinde in Die Walküre. She
most recently sang the role of Judith in Bartok's Duke Bluebeard's Castle.