Roland Wood Archives - North West End UK

Director PJ Harris’ dramatic concert staging of Verdi’s 1881 version of Simon Boccanegra for Opera North is an absolute joy, a true sensory delight for the ear and eye. A Prologue establishes that Boccanegra (Roland Wood), a plebeian, is about to become the first elected Doge of Genoa. But he loves – and has secretly had a child with – Maria, the daughter of his political rival and sworn enemy, Jacopo Fiesco (Vazgen Gazaryan), a patrician. When Maria dies, the baby disappears. Fast forward 25 years and Fiasco is in hiding under the alias Andrea Grimaldi and plotting his revenge against Boccanegra who is still in power. He has become guardian to an orphan girl named Amelia (Sara Cortolezzis) who it later transpires is his missing granddaughter. She wants to marry Gabriele Adorno (Andr...

As ever, Scottish Opera delivers sumptuous sets, great lighting, singers who can act, and a wonderful orchestra that never disappoints, but this English rendition of The Makropulos Affair, by Leoš Janàček jarred my senses with its modern-day, casual lexicon. Words, such as F*ck somehow don’t marry comfortably with the impassioned, heightened music and traditional, elegant, and beautiful costumes. It was, no doubt, a deliberate choice. Creating a grating cacophonous lexicon - the use of brutal Viking words rather than those of Latin derivatives gives the opera an earthy groundedness - and caused me a headache. I wanted to lose my sense of reality for an hour or two. I was denied the option. Single syllables and short sentences (translation by David Pountney) reflect the sheer en...

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Simon Boccanegra – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

The Makropulos Affair – Festival Theatre