A fun but slightly confused imagining of Mozart’s famous opera
Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro is taking to the stage in Opera Kipling’s new, ninety-minute production. All the action in this opera occurs on the day of servants Susannah and Figaro’s wedding as the Count (Philip Kamanovitch) attempts to seduce Susannah with a plan to reinstate an old law that would allow him to have her. At the same time, the old housekeeper Marcellina (Deborah Holborn) is demanding that Figaro repays his overdue loan, or otherwise marry her! Chaos ensues as Figaro (Christian Loizou), Susannah (Rebecca Milford), the Countess (Eleanor Oldfield) and the page boy Cherubino (Alexandra Dinwiddie) band together to thwart the Count and Marcellina’s plans.
All the cast embodied their characters with brilliant energy and humour. Stand out members of the cast included Oldfield as the Countess, whose soprano voice was powerful even when lying on her back for almost the entirety of one of her arias! Milford embodied the cheeky and playful Susannah perfectly. Robert Tilson was wonderful with his sassy interpretation of Don Curzio: Tilson used his whole body (hips and all!) as a vehicle for his comedy, embracing the silliness of this comedy opera to the max; he was a joy to watch. Patrick Osbourne was brilliant, playing multiple roles with humour and versatility. The accompaniment for this opera was carried by a single pianist, Giannis Giannopoulos, who played fluidly and beautifully across the entire 90 minute production. Thanks to Giannopoulos, the full orchestra that is customary for opera was not at all missed.
As an opera novice and a Marriage of Figaro virgin, a condensed, ninety-minute version of this typically three-hour opera was welcome. However, the condensing of this opera gave way to a loss of depth. We don’t get to see many scenes of Susannah and Figaro alone together, which is a detriment to the believability of their romance. At the midpoint of the production, I almost began to feel for the opera’s antagonist, The Count – he was being cheated on and deceived by characters that had so little stage time it was difficult to sympathise with them! These issues were exacerbated by a technical issue with the surtitles, which were sometimes partially or completely obscured by the lighting and smoke machine. This made it very hard to follow certain parts of the opera, a real let down for the cast. Despite the plot being somewhat lost or confused at times, Opera Kipling did embrace the light-heartedness of this opera which made it a very joyful watch. Schilperoort’s direction realised the silliness, the sass and the fun innate in this comedy, capturing the humour and the characters’ descent into chaos.
The set is minimalistic in style. In centre-stage is an IKEA bed, around which all the action revolves. The bed was put to effective use in all the scenes, successfully integrating into a range of different settings and working very well as a comedic device. I appreciated the very tongue-in-cheek use of the IKEA instructions as the contract! There were also two poles from which sheets are hung to signify a change in setting. In the forest scenes, the mattress is replaced with very artfully crafted grassy bed which was a lovely touch. However, a more dynamic and full set might have provided better context cues to understand the plot at large. The Opera Kipling company promise sass and silliness in their productions, taking inspiration from W.H. Auden’s quote: “No good Opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible”. On this, they certainly deliver; this production is full of humour and heart. However, sadly technical problems and plot confusion undermine the talent of the cast.