Stuart Stratford Archives - North West End UK

12Nov

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Don Pasquale – Festival Theatre

General Director, Alex Reedijk, has spent the last nineteen years building Scottish Opera into a force to be reckoned with. This latest production is a reprisal of a 2014 creation by Renaud Doucet and André Barbe of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. It is a frivolous affair, thankfully without the tra-la-las of which Mozart was so fond. The concept is bright, clever and amusing, giving the production so much more than the score and libretto. For that reason, this particular creation has been touring successfully in Italy, Canada and the United States. Guy Simard’s lighting supports the comedic storyline and the characters. His choice of colours and detail are spot on. A prolific force, Simard has collaborated with Doucet and Barbe for the last twenty five years. I particularly enjo...

Don Giovanni – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

‘Hurry hurry’ one character sings to another. ‘I can’t’ the other character replies. This is Mozart after all and the composer has never been known to keep things short and to the point. Don Giovanni doesn’t drag like the final acts of Figaro, but you do have to buckle yourself in for a lengthy ride. For those who don’t know the storyline of one of the greatest operas in the canon, the titular character of the opera, Don Giovanni, is more than just a philandering womanizing rake. He’s a liar, a rapist and a murderer. This is all apparent in the first 10 minutes when he’s already a committed a murder. As the opera progresses there are a series of characters baying for his blood, all wronged by his actions. When it seems he has achieved the impossible and dodged his demise he meets his en...

Cosi fan Tutte – Scottish Opera

Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte is an ideal opera to be performed in today’s climate. A small leading cast, and a relatively light-hearted plot, Scottish Opera’s production, directed by Roxana Haines with musical direction by Stuart Stratford, brings the comedy into the modern world in a socially distanced performance exploiting the world of reality TV. The piece opens with exuberant music played by a masked orchestra behind screens, as the Chorus sit in the theatre’s boxes, making up the various audience members of the reality show which our couples find themselves competing in. The Chorus revel in their roles throughout the piece, creating some excellent emotional reactions from wistfulness, to excitement, to boredom, creating a real sense of a live studio audience to the television show we a...