Rusalka

Synopsis

Based on De la Motte's 'Undine' Rusalka is a water sprite who becomes human so that she can marry a prince, only to find that he is unfaithful. First performed in the National Theatre, Prague on 31st March 1901

Our Review:

6 October 2012

We hear a lot these days from opera companies fumbling around for fresh ways to lure new audiences, so here’s an idea they might consider: mount a first-rate modern production, fill it with talented young artists and take it out on tour at affordable prices. If it works for Glyndebourne – which it does, triumphantly – it ought to work for the aspiring kings of cool in, say, St Martin’s Lane.

‘Modern’ need not mean ‘off-the-wall’, and there’s certainly nothing outlandish about Melly Still’s magical staging of Dvorak’s fairy-tale opera Rusalka, first seen in 2009 and here revived for the second time by the director herself. The story is simple – it’s The Little Mermaid, more or less, but refracted through de la Motte Fouqué’s novella Undine – and Still works amid designs by Rae Smith that are imaginative yet economical to carve a vivid piece of theatre from i...

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Latest User Review

Nick - 12 October 2012:

Loved every minute on Thursday - conductor and orchestra on magnificent form and Still`s production illuminating. Sheer wallowing pleasure!...

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