Otello at the Grand Opera House

Opera North ran three operas this week at the Grand Opera House. 2013 is Giuseppe Verde's anniversary year and Opera North are celebrating with their production of Otello.  For the first time, I actually had company for the opera, and it was lovely. 

The opera is based on Shakespeare's great tragedy Othello, a story of malice, jealousy, torment and madness. The tragedy of the story is breathtaking and this production certainly broke a few hearts.  With half price tickets available as part of the Backin Belfast campaign,  the theatre was full of people who had not attended an opera before, the cheaper seats providing a less risky night out.  This did mean though that there was quite a bit of annoying whispering and people eating popcorn. 

I enjoyed the performances immensely, the lead playing his part with just enough frantic jealousy.  The scenes of violence within the piece were well choreographed and I truly feared that Elena Kelessidi as Desdemona would get hurt as Otello pushed her around.   Otello's entrance to the bedroom in Act 4 was terrifying and the tension was built up beautifully by some very good acting though it seemed at times that Ronald Swann was having to push his voice.

Kelessidi's voice grated a little at the start but the vulnerability with which she played the part was palpable.  Her pleading innocence in the prayer scene in particular brought a tear to the eye.

As for evil Iago, his manipulation of events was played by David Kempster with callous intent, the performer clearly enjoying his dual personality.  

Despite lacking a bit of energy in the opening scene, the chorus was generally very strong, and passionate.   As always the orchestra, conducted by Richard Farnes, blew me away.

Depicted in a garrison, the set was cold and menacing reflecting perhaps Otello's descent into mad jealousy and was put to good use.  There were plenty of places for Otello to hide and listen to conversations without being seen.  Lighting wise, I thought it a bit predictable and would have liked to have seen the lighting used more creatively. 

The surtitle screens were a bit low down to be read from the Upper Circle, I but found that I barely needed them.  Despite being sung in Italian, my knowledge of the story and the performers' expression kept me on course the whole way through.

Overall, a great night out.  I only wish the Backin Belfast discount was available all the time, to allow more people to see such amazing productions.

My love affair with opera continues...

Thanks

Karen

http://twitter.com/classygenes

Romeo and Juliet

Tonight I went to see C21 Theatre Company's Romeo and Juliet at the Grand Opera House.  This is a show I last saw at the Globe Theatre and it lasted over 3 hours.  As we were in the Groundling area outdoors in the rain, my memory was that it was endlessly long and very uncomfortable.  C21 promised a shorter version aimed primarily at a secondary school audience.  The production comes in at 80 minutes which is perfect for it's audience.

First mention must go to Jolene O'Hara, a talented young actress who embodied the role of Juliet with ease.  Her delicate beauty and passionate performance was touching. The role of Juliet is a powerful one and I thought she dealt with it well. Romeo, played by Michael Lavery, was a good match for her in performance and also in passion.

The other cast members Mark Claney, Eoghan Lamb, Rachael McCabe and Dan Leith played various roles, and despite a few accent issues on occasion, all were strong.  As a whole the production enthralled the many teenagers in the audience. They sat wide eyed as the story developed and by the end a few were crying.

The show is touring to schools and thus the set and lighting was simple but effective.  The white nets of Juliet's balcony were put to good use as a symbol of innocence and virginity.  On the night of her marriage to Romeo, the lights coloured red and she was innocent no more.

Arthur Webb did a good job at directing the production.  His experience as an educator clear, his knowledge of teen minds meant that the audience's attention was not distracted.  Peppered with humorous moments, music and lots of not too passionate kissing, a teen audience will engage well.  Credit also is due for the adaptation which kept the scenes short and focussed.  A sterling presentation from C21 and great to see them in the Grand Opera House.

Click here to find out more about c21Theatre Company

Click here to book tickets for the Grand Opera House from 26 February - 2 March

Karen

http://twitter.com/classygenes

Bite sized Romeo and Juliet from c21 at the Grand Opera House

Next week I'm looking forward to seeing c21's bite sized version of Romeo and Juliet in the Baby Grand.

Sold as a turbo-charged, pared-down version of the famous romantic drama that will distill all the beauty, violence and tragedy of the original… but in less than 90 minutes.  The production has been especially adapted for schools and smaller theatre venues with the original script that has been adapted by Gary Wilson. 

Lisburn actor Michael Lavery and Belfast’s Jolene O'Hara star as the star-crossed lovers, heading up a dynamic cast bringing Shakespeare's words to exhilarating new life.  Shakespeare’s universally known language is still intact but in a more condensed and accessible form. The show will be directed by Arthur Webb who acknowledges that teachers often have a fear of teaching Shakespeare.  He promises that this new production makes the blank verse accessible and the narrative straightforward without diluting the enjoyment and sense. He finds that pupils are often more visual than auditory learners, as am I!

No longer a young upcoming company, c21 has been on the theatre scene in Northern Ireland now for 8 years.  It has established itself as a consistent and exciting player, staging a variety of productions from edgy comedy drama to pantomime.  The production is supported by Arts & Business and Burke Shipping Group.

The production opened today at the Craic in Coalisland, touring to the Grand Opera House, Riverside Theatre and Sean Hollywood Arts Centre as well as giving schools performances and workshops.

Click here to find out more about c21Theatre Company

Click here to book tickets for the Grand Opera House from 26 February - 2 March  

Comedy of Errors at Theatre at the Mill

Last night was the Opening Night of Theatre at the Mill's Comedy of Errors: the Musical.

After an absolute disaster of a day where our car broke down, the fridge blew up and our heating wouldn't work properly, I needed cheering up.  Comedy of Errors had a lot to live up to!

Billed as a musical theatre version of Shakespeare set in 1920's Belfast, the production is a difficult sell.  The cast were clearly nervous for the opening number but settled quickly into their parts.  Not being a play I have read and not knowing what to expect I found the beginning confusing.  I couldn't quite understand what was going on and who each character was meant to be. However it didn't take long to realise that the who's, what's and when's were mostly irrelevant.  This musical adaptation was first and foremost meant to be fun.

And fun it was.  Richard Clements and Paul Boyd are excellent as the brothers separated at birth, their relationships with their servants a high point. Paul Boyd's Belfast Anthony is perhaps the most passionate of the brothers, continuously kicking his servant and getting a fair few kisses from his mistress.  Richard's Dublin Anthony is by contrast a less violent man, pleasantly surprised by the lovely Belfast people who like to give him money and pearls.  The two Drews are strongly played by Drew Dillon and David Marken, talented young actors who ensure that the confusion and slapstick comedy continue throughout.  The curly clown wigs chosen for the Drew characters however, did remind me of Art Garfunkel or Gene Wilder.  Not a good look.

Sara Lyle's wronged wife Adrianna and her single sister Lucy played by Orla Gormley are engaging in their roles.  Reflecting the brothers' conflicting characters, the sisters are polar opposites to one another.  Adrianna seems to enjoy a bit of passionate S&M, whereas Lucy's demure character is much more restrained, but played with a Gormley twinkle in the eye. Chris Robinson and Orla Mullan had perhaps the most frantic parts to play, portraying with style various roles such as the jeweller, a policeman, the father, the mother, an exorcist, a nun, a businesswoman, a mistress and the cook.

As always, I found the music overpowered the vocals making it difficult to hear the words of the songs.  In this instance it may not have been so much an issue of volume, but more to do with balance and clarity through the sound system.  It should be said however, that I often have an issue with the music simply being too loud in theatre productions.  The songs are fun and catchy and are well handled by this cast.

The story was set aside to use comical interludes such as a Stomp-like door-knocking musical episode, a stylised slow motion fight scene, musicians calling out hellos to the characters, an off-stage run though the audience and a pun-tastic comic monologue from Drew Dillon which accented his excellent comic timing.  These set pieces were interesting individual moments but were not there to assist the development of the story but more to allow time for quick changes.  I thought these mostly worked well but they reminded me of the comic interludes used in panto to allow for the big scene change to happen behind the curtain.

I felt that the play tried too hard to fit in too many styles and this was detrimental to it's focus. Panto meets Shakespeare meets musical theatre meets slapstick meets farce all set in 1920's Belfast meant that the play felt confused in it's direction. The continuous large gestures and unnecessary movements of the characters undermined the storytelling and merely created one dimensional stock characters which force this production more into the world of pantomime than musical theatre.

Despite this, Comedy of Errors: The Musical is a fast paced and frenetic show, with is a very hard working cast whose hi-jinks and even higher kicks had my eyes watering.  Full of slapstick fun and witty naughtiness, this shows runs until 2nd March. You can BOOK HERE.                        

Comedy of Errors, The Musical

I've visited Theatre at the Mill on a few occasions, but despite my best intentions have never made it out to the Newtownabbey venue to see a show.  I've decided my first show will be Comedy of Errors for various reasons.

• The story sounds brilliant.  It's a Shakespeare play I didn't study in school and I don't know it at all, but the witty description and excellent production shots caught my attention.  The cheeky grins and surprised expressions on the actors faces really highlight the farcical elements of the play.
• It's a brand new musical version! I'm thinking Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet... 
• It's set in Belfast in the 1920's.  Well if ever there was a way to get me to go to something, it would be to include some local history. A quick look at the Comedy of Errors microsite reveals set images of the 140 year old Jaffe fountain, currently situated outside Victoria Square. 
• Setting the musical in the roaring twenties means fabulous costumes.  The costume drawings are really stunning and I can't wait to see them for real.
• Live 1920's Music.  (Note to self: remember not to dance in public)
• The cast!  Some of the best actors/ singers working in NI today all on one stage.  Richard Clements, Drew Dillon, Paul Boyd (the other one...), Chris Robinson, Orla Gormley, Sarah Lyle, David Marken and Orla Mullen. Seriously have you heard these guys sing?  Click here to hear Drew Dillon and click here to listen to Richard Clements. *may induce tears

The show runs from 19th February - 2nd March.  Click here to find out more on Theatre at the Mill's website.

Macbeth at the Lyric Theatre

Everyone knows elements of Macbeth, whether it's Macbeth's famous words "Is this a dagger which I see before me?" or the weird sisters' mantra "Double, double toil and trouble". 


Any production team on Macbeth must feel the weight of theatre history on their shoulders. With so many different productions there is a need to be distinct, to add something to the Reception of the Macbeth story. 

The first thing that struck me when I entered the theatre is the magnificent set for this story. Diana Ennis has captured the mood perfectly.  The set is steeped in suffocating darkness, the weight of pebbles on the upper layer crushing the signs of normality below.  It is dramatic, epic and courageous, a portent of the production to follow.

I loved Lynne Parker's take on the weird sisters.  They are completely integrated into the society around them, having domestic lives as well as going mysteriously about their supernatural lives.  Their furtive glances and artful ability to slip into the shadows is creepy.  The witches are all powerful, always around Macbeth, whether in his mind, putting words into his mouth, within the domestic characters surrounding him or as apparitions.        

Stuart Graham as Macbeth is strong, and he is adept at removing his ties to reality bit by bit.  His descent into madness is realised with true fear and incomprehension.  His partnership with Lady Macbeth never seems quite passionate enough.  "Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it." says Lady Macbeth.  I was a little disappointed in this portrayal which was too subtle a depiction of what I see as a tenacious and manipulative character.  Even before her descent into guilt, I never quite believed that she was the powerful woman of ambition that she is written to be.   
 
Paul Mallon makes an interesting McDuff.  At first I couldn't understand his seemingly underwhelming response to the news of the massacre of  his family.  But the stiff way he holds his body and the hang of his head was not unemotional but rather his body was filled with restrained anger.  The power and emotion he mustered into in a yell of pure revenge when he killed Macbeth ensured I felt his pain and then some.
 
Banquo is especially brilliant as a particularly devilish apparition, challenging Macbeth without saying a word, a testament to Michael Condron's skill as an actor.  
 
Two moments jarred with my overall experience.  The apparation which appears from a trapdoor on the stage adds misplaced humour which does not fit with the overall sense of hysteria Macbeth is feeling. The modern costumes and use of torches fits well with the production but I felt that the addition of army style radios was a step too far into modernity.

All round I thought this was a fantastic and interesting production and one that adds to the reception of the myth of Macbeth.  The production felt particularly rooted in Ireland, and indeed in Northern Ireland.  The blackness of the set, crunching of pebbles and strategically distributed haze would not feel out of place on Belfast's Black Mountain.  It's not too fantastic to believe that you could meet one of the weird sisters walking through our streets.  The retention of the actors' Belfast accents and the simpleness of their dress gives more than just a nod to their Belfast birthplace.

Macbeth runs until 24th November at the Lyric Belfast.

BOOK HERE