The Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro)

Synopsis

Count Almaviva lusts after the delicious Susanna, Figaro's bride to be. The neglected Countess pines for her husband's attentions and, as she tries to make him jealous, love and suspicion abound. Figaro must unravel the threads before he and Susanna can tie the knot. Also performed as Figaro's Wedding and Figaro!. First performed at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 1 May 1786

Our Review:

28 October 2009

Martin Lloyd-Evans’ staging of The Marriage of Figaro in Amanda Holden’s racy translation for Mid-Wales Opera is a clever affair. There’s no chorus; we have the traditional doubling of the tenor roles of Don Basilio and Don Curzio and of the bass roles of Dr Bartolo and Antonio; the last act arias for Marcellina and Basilio are, as usual, cut and the orchestral score has been reduced to chamber orchestra proportions by conductor Keith Darlington.

Because Bridget Kimak’s design has been conceived for a touring production it makes a fine virtue of this necessity. There’s a flexible raised platform, outlined by metal struts and punctuated by elastic panels to represent the doors within Almaviva’s country retreat. Think a simple greenhouse or a Victorian Wardian case with the opera’s characters as specimens for our contemplation, the pains contained in their humanity thus being as much of a shock as when a zoo-enclosed primate turns its intell...

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