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Day: October 30, 2017

REVIEW: Rodelinda @ENO

Posted on by Eric Page

Rodelinda

Handel

English National Opera

Caught in a power play that could break a marriage and steal a throne, can Rodelinda stay true to love?

Rodelinda is a dramatic tale of power, anguish and love. When Grimoaldo takes Bertarido’s throne, Bertarido flees abroad, leaving behind his grieving wife Rodelinda. The usurper tries to force Rodelinda to love him, but when the exiled king returns in disguise, everyone is put to the test.

One of Handel’s finest operas, Rodelinda is filled with intense drama told through ravishingly beautiful music. Director Richard Jones brings his distinctive theatrical imagination to this production, which sets Handel’s bitter political drama in a scuffed up Fascist Italy, panoptic, suspicious, intense and claustrophobic, this is a dark setting but illuminated with supreme performances and some delicious tongue in cheek moments of deconstructive humour.

Tattoo’s, honour, spying, scheming it’s all acted out with fun a lot of it from returner Matt Casey in the wordless  role as Rodelinda’s (adult) son Flavio.  There are moments when the funny po’mo  touches get in the way of the sublime music, but I suspect many folk would welcome the extra action during some of the more exquisite long arias. I just closed my eyes.

Rebecca Evans returns to the role and if anything is even better than she was in the 2014 production giving us conviction, power, vulnerability and that wonderful full toned voice of hers, effortlessly coping with some complex choreography while singing, also returning for this first revival is Susan Bickley’s who’s touch perfect performance of Eduige is superb all scheming beguiling charm along the with a slimy slippery Garibaldo from Neal Davies, what a deliciously wicked pair they make.  Then mean and horrible Grimoaldo, the debut performance from Juan Sancho delighted the audience and he showed the exacting brilliance of his voice as it rolled around the huge spaces of the coliseum.

Read the synopsis here.

Baroque-specialist conductor Christian Curnyn kept the orchestra under his control although without any fuss or bother, he kept the narrative tension bumping along well, and the music was fresh and engaging.

Tim Mead one of the UK’s finest countertenors, adding  Bertarido to his roster of ENO roles and brought us a smooth and ultra-refined performance which charmed me  and the youthful and utterly thrilling Christopher Lowrey gave us a heart-breakingly perfect  Unulfo, he transfixed me, gave this role real presence, engaging humor and I had a perfect Handel moment during his second aria.

Amanda Holden’s translation is lively and fun and the clear diction from the entire cast is supported splendidly by the concise choices of Holden’s word which gives a brevity and subtlety to Rodelinda which has lacked in other productions.    The staging is slightly changed from the 2014 and this gives it a slightly less claustrophobic air and allows some breathing space to the rather static action and there’s some fun stagecraft on display.

This is one of the best productions of Rodelinda I’ve seen and the strong Welsh contingent gives it a real Celtic flavour and strength, it’s a three and half hour thumper of a piece and might run over, but for me it could have gone on twice as long and got me all the way home to Brighton in state of Handelian Bliss.

Recommended.

ENO

London Collesium, St Martins Lane

Until November 15, 2017

For more info or to book tickets see the ENO website here: 

Brighton couple receive community orders following homophobic abuse

Posted on by Besi

Man and a woman sentenced to 12 month community orders, after yelling homophobic abuse in an ongoing neighbour dispute in Brighton.

Lacey Lee (24) and her boyfriend Gary Corness (32) from Hadlow Close, Brighton were both convicted of public order offences, after the victim was subjected to the abuse in the communal garden in Warbleton Close by the pair. Lee is the daughter of his neighbour. As well as the abuse, Lee threatened to smash the victim’s CCTV cameras.

Crimes which are motivated ‘wholly or partly’ by hostility based on perceived religion, race, sexual orientation or disability are eligible for an uplifted sentence.

In this case, Lee was given a six-week curfew order, which was increased from four weeks, while Corness was ordered to undertake 110 hours of unpaid work, which was increased from 90 hours. They were both also ordered to pay costs.

Lee Crozier, from the CPS, said: “The victim in this case was met with a barrage of abuse from the two defendants, including homophobic comments, after saying hello to his neighbours. This is not something anyone should expect to have to encounter.

“The CPS is committed to tackling hate crime in all its forms, as this sort of abuse is completely unacceptable. To do this though, we first need victims to come forward and report what has happened to them.

“In this case, the homophobic language was heard, not only by the victim, but was witnessed by other neighbours, who came forward to help with statements. Information like this can often be valuable in bringing those who perpetrate hate crime to justice.”

Tackling hate crime is one of the priorities for CPS South East, which serves Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

For more information about the work CPS are doing to tackle hate crime, including other convictions, click here:

If you have been the victim of a hate crime and need support, click here:

Or telephone: 01273 855 620

 

REVIEW: An Audience with Armistead Maupin @Theatre Royal

Posted on by Eric Page

An Audience with Armistead Maupin

In Conversation with Damian Barr.

Theatre Royal, Brighton

Saturday, October 28

This was an unforgettable evening with the Tales of the City author celebrating the launch of his long-awaited memoir Logical Family. From his early life in the conservative South to liberal San Francisco, from his palm-reading Grannie to an awkward chat about girls with President Nixon, Armistead Maupin revealed the extraordinary people and places that helped him become one of the world’s best-loved writers.  Funny, poignant and unflinchingly honest, this was a unique opportunity to listen to the man from Barbary Lane.

Armistead was talking to Damian Barr, writer and Literary Salon host; there was some unintended delight as the pick up on the mic of Damien Burr was set to some extraordinary forensic level of sensitivity,  amplifying each scraping back of the hair, and loud chink chink and glug glug of a glass of water, it was sorted out after a while but was an unintentionally hilarious distraction from some of the answers.

Maupin shared some splendid memories with us, about his own biological family in all their public displays of white entitlement and ugly grand southern racism but also gave us insight into them as people, with some laugh out loud reminiscing about his father getting stoned and his mother cuddling up to a bisexual swinger friend of Maupin the first time they visited him in San Fransicso, which happened to be the weekend of Harvey Milk’s assassination.

This was a real peek into history as it was lived.  He talked about his own personal journey from right wing closeted conservative to out and proud emboldened gay man and how important sex, sensuality and the sensual gentleness of random strangers in the dark was to him in the early days of his sexual expression.

Always a delight to see and a warm engaging speaker this was an entertaining evening with one of our legendary authors whose books taught many of us, of a certain generation, how to live, love and accept the extended families we built (and found) around us and still teaches us today – to call it out for what it is, no matter where it comes from, to question and challenge our biological families and try and teach them to understand us and to embrace – fully – and celebrate our loving logical families, that wonderful phrase first spoken by the delightful landlady of Barbary Lane, Anna Magdrigal.

Maupin wasn’t just here to delight however, but to encourage us to read (and buy) his new book and memoir Logical Family.

He took questions afterwards and displayed some of his trademark warm but devastating  wit; a young lady standing up in a sequined jacket,  and apologising profusely for the heteronormality of her question was reassured by Maupin that “her jacket more than made up for it”.

Charming, engaging and somehow deeply comforting as well, Maupin shines like a hard bright light in the darkness of the modern American twilight.

Full details here:

REVIEW: PLAINSONG TO POLYPHONY: BREMF

Posted on by Eric Page

PLAINSONG TO POLYPHONY

 St Bartholomew’s Church

BREMF Consort of Voices and The Lacock Scholars
Deborah Roberts director 
Greg Skidmore director 

Sat 28 Oct

St Bart’s rang to music from the 12th to the 16th centuries culminating in the ultimate polyphonic work, Tallis’s 40-part motet Spem in alium. This large gathering of voice had some gentle choreography added to explore  the roots of polyphony in ancient chant melodies.

Starting with a processional chant A solis ortus cardine, which set the tone and atomphere there was a superb rendition of Jacob Obrecht’s Salve Regina full of subtlety and soaring charming notes. After the interval – where we all drifted around in a slow and meditative daze – we had an excellent  Kyrie from Jean Richafort Requiem, powerful and distinct and then ambled  though some English sacred music including an astoundingly beautiful  Robert Fayrfax’s  Magnificat Regale with all voices combined and a trio of elevated sopranos who took this relatively unknown superb piece of Tudor music and sent it impressively up into the high ethereal vaults, then if this magnificence wasn’t enough all the singers progressed to the back of St Bart’s to rejoice in  Talli’s Spem in Alium which was note perfect, filling the space with its rolling suggestive waves of polyphonic bliss.

See the full programme here:

Another superb evening taking advantage of the unique atmosphere and acoustic properties of St Barts, not the easiest venue to produce in, but this combination of passionate and spiritual music directed with a light but forceful touch by Deborah Roberts who kept the discipline needed to make this music feel so effortless, on occasion Roberts was working in tandem with Greg Skidmore, the director of the Lacock  I’m always impressed by the BREMF consort, they continue to improve and excel in productions, some of these works are not the usual fare of a non-professional group of singers,  but with  The Lacock scholars adding their own fine resonances to the evening and bringing a wide texture to the polyphonic magic unfolded that evening.

There were a few moments of unevenness but once the voices had warmed up and relaxed the evening flowed with a boundless enthusiasm.

For more info about the BREMF or to book tickets see their website here:

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