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Charles Edwards’ Elektra: ‘five stars are too few’

The revival of Charles Edwards’ production of Elektra by Richard Strauss at the Royal Opera House has opened to rapturous reviews. The Metro described it as ‘a superb production from Charles Edwards that places the action in a world of decaying Art Nouveau decadence…five stars are too few.’ ‘There will certainly be room for any revival of Elektra as gripping as this. …an exciting revival, well worth catching’ wrote Richard Fairman in the Financial Times, referring to plans for the 150th anniversary of Strauss’s birth next year. Describing it as a performance of  ‘unstinting power, intensity and raw emotion’ What’s On Stage  said that ‘the first night of this revival of Charles Edwards’ 2003 staging was not only one of the finest performances of Elektra for a generation, but one of the Royal Opera’s greatest evenings as well.’ The Evening Standard praised Edwards’ production as ‘Faithful to the work’s Freudian overtones, superbly sung and conducted, this revival is gripping — and at its climax shattering.’ ‘At last, this intelligent production gets the superlative performances it deserves’ was the verdict of blogger  Classical Iconoclast. Talking about the personification of Elektra -  an ‘astonishingly good’ performance by Christine Goerke – the review says: ‘Edward’s Personenregie is exceptional. Every gesture, every modulation works expressively.’ It also quotes Charles Edwards about the importance of identifying with Elektra as a human being: ‘Charles Edwards, the director, wanted to avoid the caricature of Elektra as a mad harpie. “A lot of her music is soft, amazingly tender…… Elektra, for all her righteousness, is deeply damaged: everything that’s weiblich, human and fertile about her, she’s had to repress, yet she doesn’t hold it against her sister who stands for all she can never have.”’ The Arts Desk concluded: ‘Here music-drama’s unique capacity to attract and repel, exhilarate and depress simultaneously is dazzlingly well served by the conductor and singers of a Royal Opera revival which really kicks you in the guts.’ Finally, according to Classical Source: ‘Edwards’s self-designed production, now ten years old, represents Strauss and Hofmannsthal exceptionally well. The lighting, also his own work, keeps a relentless white beam on Elektra to show there is no escape for her … a majestic production that is as taut and terror-infused as the score it serves.’

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The Pride, lit by Jon Clark, gets **** reviews

This topical play, which contrasts the experiences of two gay men and a straight women in 1958 and the present day, has been up-dated and ‘triumphantly revived’  (What’s on Stage) at Trafalgar Studios. The play, first produced at the Royal Court in 2008, has been revived by the original creative team – director Jamie Lloyd, designer Soutra Gilmour and lighting designer Jon Clark – and both play and production have received glowing reviews. As the Financial Times says ‘while the play focuses specifically on the experience of gay men, its deepest concerns are universal as it considers loneliness, self-knowledge and emotional integrity.’ Michael Billington at The Guardian thought that ‘Lloyd’s superbly acted revival balances the two halves of the play better than his Royal Court original‘, and several reviewers agreed with him that the scenes set in the 1950s were particularly successful. The Telegraph praised both acting and setting of  ‘one of the best British gay plays I have seen’… ‘a fine and compassionate drama with a noble breadth and depth of human sympathy’. The Independent described the play as ‘shrewd, witty and deeply affecting’…a ‘thoughtful and thought-provoking drama about the struggle that generations of gay men and women have had to wage in order to achieve a sense of self-worth.’

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Dudley designs ‘startlingly effective’ King Lear

Lucy Bailey’s new production of King Lear for the Theatre Royal Bath, designed by William Dudley and starring David Haig, has attracted rave reviews, being described variously as ‘daring and startlingly effective’ (Telegraph), ‘extraordinarily potent’ (Express) and a ‘gripping new gangland take on Shakespeare’s most forbidding tragedy‘ (Mail). Reviewers made particular mention of Dudley’s designs. Charles Spencer, writing in the Telegraph, praised the effectiveness of Dudley’s use of projections: ‘The initial scene in which Lear divides his kingdom between his daughters is set in a the back room of a handsome London pub, brilliantly evoked in William Dudley’s designs which make superb use of projections to create a host of locations from a penthouse apartment and a London nightclub to a bleak doss-house.’ Susannah Clapp in the Observer says  ‘William Dudley’s design moves from super-chic transparent screens (the heath scene could be taking place in an art gallery) to a set-less black wilderness’ while Kate Bassett in The Independent comments on how fluidly this works: ‘William Dudley uses scrims and projections to realise numerous settings as fluidly as possible’. Finally, Patrick Marmion in The Mail describes how: ‘William Dudley’s design … sets these spivs in a shifting sea of projected landscapes: a bustling snooker hall, a desolate car park, a panorama of derelict industrial estates.’  Read more: The Mail The production runs at the Theatre Royal Bath until 10 August.

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Reiffenstuel wins Oscar della Lirica for costume design

Brigitte Reiffenstuel was awarded the 2013 Oscar della Lirica for achievement in costume design at the International Opera Awards ceremony in the Teatro di Bologna on Saturday 18 May. Brigitte is pictured here with her Oscar della Lirica statuette. This International Opera Award recognises her achievements across a career which has encompassed designing costumes for productions at all the major international opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, and La Scala.

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