The Marriage of Figaro

Saturday, 28 March 2009

Light, frothy and as mind twisting as an alcopop, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro is an effervescent treat; it's mainstream familiarity not deterring the serious opera goer, rather it gives them a chance to enjoy the genius composer's prankster wit as we all laugh at the upstairs/ downstairs shenanigans within a country estate outside Seville.

I won't belabour the plot, suffice to say there are mistaken identities galore, boys dressed as girls (though that role is actually played by a girl dressed as a boy...who then has to masquerade as a girl - more Victor/ Victoria confusion!), romantic triangles, quadrangles and possibly even a pentacle; but a happy ending is assured; long lost families are found and true love truimphs.

The pace and performances were brisk and humourous with James Clayton skipping through his title role and Sara Macliver proving a fiesty foil as Susanna, Figaro's true love eager to outwit the Il Conte d'Almaviva (Luke Gabbedy), their philandering aristocratic employer, who is determined to wear down her protestations.

Stuart Liang was a hoot as Don Basilio/ Don Curzio, his round moonface alternatively bulging with bluster or sly with machinations and he, Marcellina (Sarah-Janet Dougiamas) and Bartolo (Conal Coad) provided much laughter and gossip in the opening act.

I loved the way the stage was dressed, the heavy curtains of light rust providing both set and cover in Act 1 and they reminded me of the layers upon layers of female courtly dress - under which just about all the males in the cast were eager to get to! There were touches of anachronistic modernity admist the props - a 50s style hair dryer, an ironing board and iron which were humourously affected, however I found the audience room columns in Act 3 rather squat and ugly and so out of place with the lighter colours employed in the rest of the sets.

The WA Symphony Orchestra ably supported the players on stage, but the WA Opera Chorus were practically a blip on the scene, mainly utilised in the audience room and apparently not even worthy of a bow as only the principals and supporting cast got the chance to receive applause from the audience. Ah well...

But the show itself was delightful, and an enjoyable evening of champagne fun.

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