Aida

Synopsis

The essence of Grand Opera first performed in Cairo in 1871. Set in Egypt at the time of the pharoes. A captain of guard (Radames) is in love with Aida, an Ethiopian slave girl - who happens also to be the daughter of the king of Ethiopia. Her mistress, Amneris, is also in love with Radames. When the Ethiopians invade Radames is chosen to lead the army. When they return victorious Radames asks for all the Ethiopian slaves to be released - except Aida and her father who persuades her to trick Radames into revealing the plans of the Egyptian army - but he suggests that they all run away to Ethiopia together. When Radames is accused of treason he gives himself up to let Aida and her father escape but is condemned to be improisoned alive. As the last stones are put in place Aida appears and joins him in the tomb so that they might die together.

Our Review:

28 April 2010

If it's Aida, there must be elephants, right? Not for David McVicar. His new production for the Royal Opera House is stripped of the hoary sword and sandal cliches epitomised by the Taylor/Burton Cleopatra. No pyramids, no sphinxes and definitely no elephants.

But McVicar provides a rather different sort of spectacle. Not with the pared-down, dimly-lit set, which is little more than a giant revolving wall. The thought and by the looks of it the money too has gone into the two hundred or so performers who pack the stage for the first two acts.

Bare-breasted priestesses execute a blood-drenched mass human sacrifice to appease the gods before the great warrior Radames leads the Egyptians into battle. Near-naked slave girls perform a fertility dance for his admirer the princess Amneris while she awaits his return. As Radames returns victorious in the famous triumphal march scene, flayed corpses are suspended swaying above the massed forces of strutting samurai-style warriors, cow...

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