Albert Herring – The Lowry

English National Opera’s first official foray North sees director and designer Antony McDonald delightfully serve up Britten’s 1947 witty comic opera Albert Herring exposing the whimsy and hypocrisy at the heart of post-war British society.

Lady Billows (Emma Bell) and her committee’s – aide Florence Pike (Carolyn Dobbin), headteacher Miss Wordsworth (Aoife Miskelly), vicar, Mr Gedge (Eddie Woods), Mayor, Mr Upfold (Mark Le Brocq), and Superintendent Budd (Andri Björn Róbertsson) of the local constabulary – attempts to identify a May Queen for the village come unstuck as they realise all the local girls are lacking the necessary virtuosity. The only option is the shy and reserved Albert Herring (Caspar Singh) who works at his mother’s (Leah-Marian Jones) greengrocers, where he is regularly teased by schoolchildren Emmie (Abigail Sinclair), Cis (Natasha Oldbury) and Harry (Lucien Flutter/Harry Karp).

Will Albert meet the brief, or will the celebrations bring him out of his shell to become more outgoing friend like his friend Sid (Dan D’Souza) who always has the attractive Nancy (Anna Elizabeth Cooper) on his arm?

Billed as a semi-staging does the production a disservice as it is so much more than that, presented sitcom style with an on-stage stage manager (Ashton Hall) orchestrating the action and the applause from us as its studio audience, with the stifling village of Loxton represented by some hastily constructed walls, handily signed and re-signed to indicate which building we are in, echoing the post-war hastiness of rebuilding Britain with Ilona Karas’ costume design hinting at the 1950s.

The stereotypical sitcom cast are all there from the bombastic Lady Billows offering more than a distinct nod towards Dad’s Army’s Captain Mainwaring, an unscrupulous Mayor, and a Vicar doubling up as a scoutmaster chasing the local children with bags of sweets: you wouldn’t get away with that nowadays.

There’s a dissonance to Britten’s music that takes time for the ear to adjust to and for the lyrical quality of the libretto to come through but ultimately it does with conductor Daniel Cohen leading the fourteen-strong orchestra (David Adams – Violin; Matthew Elston – Violin; Rebecca Chambers – Viola; David Newby – Cello; Ben Russell – Double Bass; Clare Wickes – Flute; Rosie Staniforth – Oboe; Barnaby Robson – Clarinet; Charlotte Cox – Bassoon; Timothy Ellis – Horn; Dominic Hackett – Timpani; Giles Harrison – Percussion; Aisha Palmer – Harp; Murray Hipkin – Piano) brightly through a free-flowing musical performance: it was also good to see four of them having the spotlight shone on them in the programme rather than just being left as long list of names at the bottom of the cast page.

The cast perform well and are in good voice, embracing the comedy at the heart of the piece on one level with some strong comic acting embracing the presentation style whilst delivering a distinct nod to its underlying dark humour which just goes to show that the scandals of today are nothing new which is very much Britten’s point and purpose.

Singh literally has to grow into his role as the anti-hero of the piece so it’s a shame that the opera ends just as he’s coming into his own with a fine performance. D’Souza and Cooper both sung brightly, showed great chemistry, and held the stage well whenever they appeared, whilst standout and often scene-stealing performances from Sinclair and Oldbury hints at a bright future for opera and the ENO as it is welcomed into its soon-to-be new home.

Reviewer: Mark Davoren

Reviewed: 21^st October 2025

North West End UK Rating: