Performing Arts News

The recent production of a triple bill of operas by Massenet and Martinu, directed by Stephen Barlow for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with designs by Performing Arts client Yannis Thavoris, had excellent reviews. There were many positive mentions of Thavoris’s designs, as well as praise for Stephen Barlow’s direction, the ‘stylistic assurance’ of conductor Peter Robinson (The Guardian) and the singing of Guildhall students. The Guildhall has previously produced Massenet’s La Navarraise and Le Portrait de Manon, and Martinu’s Comedy on the Bridge, but never as a triptych. The Guardian enjoyed ‘Stephen Barlow’s skilful production’, The Times gave it four stars and praised ‘an evening of wonderfully concentrated drama’, while the Evening Standard described it as “a beguiling triptych” and noted that ‘The sets — in case you thought student meant low-rent — are great.’ The review on Bachtrack said: ‘Yannis Thavoris’s sets for all three operas were exemplary: straightforward, visually interesting and adding plenty of atmosphere to proceedings.’ What’s on Stagethought the triple bill ‘succeeds wonderfully well, in Stephen Barlow’s beautifully-judged staging’ and said of Comedy on the Bridge: ‘Written in 1937, it was conceived as a radio opera, surprising given its striking visual theatricality, which director and designer (Yannis Thavoris, excellent throughout) exploit to the full.’ Finally, in the Spectator Michael Tanner noted how well the design worked across the three different operas: ‘designer Yannis Thavoris has produced a set of which the main ingredient, a heap of miscellaneous broken or discarded objects, remains throughout the evening, while other props are introduced that are sufficiently striking to create a quite different mood as the curtain rises on the three little operas.’

The new play by Lucy Prebble, The Effect, has opened at the National Theatre to rave reviews. Directed by Rupert Goold, who also directed her previous hit Enron, the play was lit by Performing Arts client Jon Clark. ‘The Effect is an astonishingly rich and rewarding play, as intelligent as it is deeply felt.’ concluded Charles Spencer who gave it 5 stars in the Daily Telegraph, saying that the setting in a swish private clinic was ‘brilliantly realised’. Henry Hitchings in the Evening Standard also rated it 5 stars, saying: ‘Rupert Goold’s thoughtful production is lit up by scintillating performances’, notably leads Billie Piper and Jonjo O’Neill who are ‘thrillingly good’. The review by Michael Billington in the Guardian (4 stars) praised it as ‘beautifully staged’ and ‘a palpably intelligent [play] that proves Enron was not a flash in the pan’, while the Independent(4 stars) thought it was ‘Searingly well-performed in Goold’s co-production with Headlong’. If you haven’t already booked, you may have to queue for day tickets or returns, as it is largely sold out.

Christopher Adey conducted the Academy of St Thomas Orchestra in a sell-out concert of Beethoven, Brahms and Mendelssohn at St Andrew’s Hall in Norwich on 20th October, reviewed here by Frank Cliff. “Scarcely an empty seat in St Andrew’s Hall for Saturday’s concert by the Academy of St. Thomas of familiar works from the orchestral repertoire. The justification for this was immediately apparent in conductor Christopher Adey’s reading of Beethoven’s Egmont Overture: powerful and tightly controlled until the final triumphant allegro con brio. For many, I suspect, the main attraction was the Brahms Double Concerto, in which the distinguished soloists were the husband and wife team of violinist, Kanako Ito and Norfolk born cellist, Martin Storey. It was a richly rewarding performance, with well projected playing from the soloists in the opening movement, the powerful orchestral tuttis perfectly controlled by Adey’s always sympathetic conducting. The andante was warm and lyrical, with a well chosen flowing tempo for the opening melody and fine virtuoso playing from the two soloists in the Hungarian style rondo finale. To end, a splendid performance of Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony. Throughout, Adey’s choice of tempi were excellent; a fast, but not too fast, first movement, with sparkling winds and well disciplined strings, though it seemed a shame not to repeat the exposition. Balance between oboe, bassoon and viola in the opening melody of the slow movement was well nigh perfect, there was beautifully precise playing from horns and trumpets, and the finale was tremendously exciting. Above all, the whole had that air of spontaneity which is the mark of really rewarding performance.”

Un Ballo in Maschera, directed by David Alden with costumes by Brigitte Reiffenstuel, has just opened at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.  Reviews singled out  the quality of the singing, and Brigitte Reiffenstuel’s elegant costumes. The New York Times praised “the handsome suits and dresses by the costume designer Brigitte Reiffenstuel, which suggest the color schemes of a black-and-white film”, while the Washington Post said her “modern-dress costumes make the characters look as though they popped out of a 1940s Hollywood movie”.