Julian Close
A speakeasy Rigoletto at Dorset Opera Festival
**** Dorset Opera performing at the Coade Theatre at Bryanston School is more than an offering of good quality musical theatre. It is a showcase of some very strong professional singers and for the young people who have taken part in the summer school at the Blandford Forum. The combination is exhilarating. For this production…
Grand designs, Le roi de Lahore, Dorset Opera Festival
**** Theatrically voluptuous, picturesquely medieval Indian, director Ella Marchment’s take on the neglected Massenet work plays well to the strengths of Dorset Opera; a knock-out, strong chorus, fine young players and singers, with expert guidance. The opera’s fantastical story is another tale of the mercifuly gods allowing a betrayed dead lover return to his beloved…
Götterdämmerung at Longborough: Catharsis in the Cotswolds
**** One important achievement of Amy Lane’s handling of Götterdämmerung is that it allows the singers and musicians to concentrate their talent and skills on Wagner’s Ring Cycle catharsis without too much over direction. In a confined space it seems sensible to concentrate our focus on the unfolding drama which is all contained in the…