Reader Reviews
Dalston Songs (Royal Opera House, West End)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | When entering the auditorium i thought that this was a community production, but alas it was a full professional show. It is misplaced at the opera house. It should be on at the Arcola, or the young vic. The work feels very early in production, and despite some occasionally interesting movement work the show needs a massive amount of both dramaturgical and directorial work. Running at 1.5 hours, it is far to long and the material far too weak to carry it through. The music has its moments (8 singers and recordings of residents of Dalston) but it feels unbelievably worthy, Like the Opera house had to fund something very bland about ethnic minorities at the expense of something potentially much more interesting. I found the 'Home is where the heart is' moral (if you can call it that) extremely offensive, but would probably delight the over liberalism and PC theatre brigade at city hall (Think about the disaster of the Beijing olympics and the red bus horror show and you get an idea of what Dalston Songs is like).If this is the work that Operagenesis is funding, i despair at operas future. - Cassox | 07 Feb 10 |
