It’s a bit like what they say about rats: you’re never far from a performance of Don Giovanni. This is one of my favourite operas, certainly my favourite by Mozart, and shamefully I’d never seen it. At last I took the opportunity and went with my daughter to Welsh National Opera’s production when it visited Bristol.
I won’t use this post to comment much on the music; I was generally happy with singing and playing, though there were occasional waverings in tuning and I thought Robin Tritschler’s Don Ottavio a bit lightweight. But then he’s meant to be a bit of a wimp.
My problem with this performance (and this is borne out by the reviews) was largely a lack of consistency in the production. The costumes and styling of the singers were beautifully detailed and evoked the Spain of a century or so before Mozart, complete with mantillas, pannier skirts and pointy beards. But the set was based on Rodin’s Gates of Hell, and other Rodin statues did duty as makeshift furniture. Now I don’t have a problem with directors applying an out-of-period concept to an opera, though they do have to sell it to me. If the singers had been wearing more generic costume the effect wouldn’t have been so jarring, but in this case two very different time periods were being evoked simultaneously.
There was also some inconsistency among the acting styles: most were naturalistic, but Nuccia Focile’s Donna Elvira was much more histrionic. I wasn’t very convinced either by the Commendatore’s statue coming to life. In a set populated by real statues, he was obviously ‘whited up’ to resemble one, but ended up looking like someone trying to look like a statue.
So probably best to concentrate on the music and not look to hard at the stage, which is what I did.
Some other opinions: Independent, Observer, Guardian and Telegraph.
Coming up: reports of a whole lot of concerts from Bath’s Mozartfest.