Preview: Opera North 2009-10
May 3, 2009
Ron Simpson takes you through Opera North’s forthcoming year
Much as I delighted in Paradise Moscow and the Gershwin double-header (I think immersion in Marx Brothers films and 1930s musicals made for a more favourable reaction than most people’s), there is no doubt that the 2008-2009 Opera North season has been lopsided. Each of the four operettas has been justified in its own right (especially the premiere of Skin Deep, even if it didn’t quite come off), but four light operas in eight productions is risky in all sorts of ways.
Review: Twelfth Night
May 2, 2009
Date reviewed: 1 May 2009
Venue: York Theatre Royal
In cast lists of Twelfth Night Curio is one of two gentlemen attending on Duke Orsino and Fabian a member of Olivia’s household, Curio barely defined as a character and Fabian so ambiguous that directors constantly redefine his role: many years ago, at the old Leeds Playhouse, he became an icecream salesman! At York Theatre Royal, however, they play a major part in creating the style of the production as, armed with flute and violin, they come close to replacing Feste as the troubadour(s) linking the palaces of Duke and Countess.