Edwards’s Don Quichotte at Grange Park ‘a real winner’

‘Grange Park has a real winner with this Don Quichotte’ writes David Mellor in the Mail on Sunday, going on to say that ‘director Charles Edwards’s ‘konzept’ really works.’ Edwards also designed the show, ‘And since Edwards is such a talented designer, the set – with Massenet’s cluttered study in the foreground, and an Edwardian operatic stage to the rear – is a feast for the eyes.’ Clive Bayley, who sings Massenet/Don Quichotte and conductor Renato Balsadonna were praised for giving ‘two outstanding performances’, as was David Stout for his brilliant support as Sancho Panza.

Describing Massenet’s opera as having ‘an autumnal, elegiac score of considerable charm’ Rupert Christiansen in the Telegraphthought that Edwards showed ‘both wit and perception in his attractive recreation of Belle Époque taste: this is an affectionate and sensitive interpretation which does no violence to Massenet’s intentions.’ He, too, praised Balsadonna’s conducting, and concluded: ‘It’s one that Massenet fans like myself will be delighted to catch’.

The Arts Desk saw Edwards’s production as ‘proof that Massenet’s Cervantes opera is a work of variety, poignancy and emotional depth’. The reviewer, Sebastian Scotney, thinks the ‘production uses the small stage to great effect’ and that this ‘thought-provoking and visually clever and attractive production is a milestone for the Grange Park company’.