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London
Barbican
09/20/2003 -  and 22, 25, 27, 30 September, 2, 4, 6, 9, 11 October 2003
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Così fan tutte

Colin Lee (Ferrando), Toby Stafford-Allen (Guglielmo), Andrew Shore (Don Alfonso), Mary Plazas (Fiordigli), Victoria Simmonds (Dorabella), Alison Roddy (Despina)

Mark Wrigglesworth (conductor), Sam West (director)

The ENO, like the Royal Opera before it, is taking refuge in the Barbican Centre while its home is being redecorated. This time, though, the centre itself is a building site, as work proceeds to create a foyer and less baroque routes through the building. The ENO's period of exile is fortunately planned to be shorter -- they return to the Coliseum in the spring -- although the company's situation is at least as wobbly as that of the Royal Opera was. The Barbican Theatre at least is opera-friendly, allowing words to be heard more clearly than in the Coliseum. The ENO's season at the Barbican, however, has an air of improvisation about it: this production of Così fan tutte is new, although there was a new production with a similar cast last season at the Coliseum, suggesting a slip-up somewhere, while two operas are performed in concert in their original languages with apparently flown-in casts. Only David McVicar's The rape of Lucretia (from two seasons ago) is really an ENO production.

Still, Così is always welcome, if not production-proof. This is Sam West's first opera, and, as is to be expected, he brings to it a solid theatrical sense and a lot of gestures that fragment the overall dramatic shape. The problem with Così is that it is, in form and intent, a throwaway bit of fluff like the Neapolitan one-acters on which it is modelled, but neither Da Ponte nor Mozart could produce anything so insubstantial. It is not really an in-depth study of realistic psychology either: the characters' emotional changes are part of the convolutions of the plot, not an end in themselves -- they are not rounded individuals. If it had mattered who pairs off with whom at the end, the text or music would have given us a clue. West, however, latches on to what is probably an artefact of the need for variation in the plot, the way Fiordigli and Ferrando emerge with more depth and a kind of sympathy between them, and pairs them off at the end, leaving everybody else in confusion. To compound the over interpretation, Fiordigli also recognises Ferrando when he returns to her in the garden after confirming her fidelity to Guglielmo, and so falls in love with him with full knowledge of who he is. If the plot of Così were a bald and unconvincing narrative, this might be welcome verisimilitude, but it's not and it isn't.

There are a few other obvious directorial add-ons that serve only to fragment the subtle structure further -- for example, the four supers who move the sets in rather dull synchronized movement -- but the modern-dress Italian setting did no harm and the performances were generally good enough to keep the evening enjoyable. Mary Plazas, who was a scatty Fiordigli in Matthew Warchus' production, had more dignity and balance this time, and sang magnificently if not sweetly. Victoria Simmonds, perhaps because she is a less experienced singer than Plazas, seemed to lack character, or maybe just direction, but she too sang well. Alison Roddy as Despina was smooth and hard as nails, more corporate bitch than practical servant. Toby Stafford-Allen as Guglielmo was comically bumptious but barked at times, while Colin Lee as Ferrando was glorious, touchingly just short of perfection vocally. Andrew Shore, last time a sinister Brideshead-misogynist don, this time a grasping lecher, was as ever in a different league but integral to the ensemble.

Mark Wrigglesworth and the orchestra (the choruses were cut) delivered the music in a coherent, middle-of-the-road style.




HE Elsom

 

 

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