L’assedio di Calais (The Siege of Calais) (tour – Norwich, Theatre Royal)

So director James
Conway mimed the role of Eustachio, leader of the Calais resistance
to the invading Edward III, while Cozmin Sime not only sang the King in the first scene but then the taxing baritone part of Eustachio,
the real hero of this story. Toby Girling substituted as Armando,
one of the six men – including Eustachio and his son Aurelio
(Helen Sherman) who volunteer to die that their city might be saved.

Yes, it’s the story of
the Burghers of Calais. Donizetti wrote it in three acts but Conway
and musical director Jeremy Silver omit the third act, moving
Eduardo’s fireworks cavatina and cabaletto to the first scene and a
major concerted number for those who will be left to survive to the
second scene of the second act. Like many in the audience, I don’t
know the opera well enough to comment on this, but the music
certainly has a grandeur one does not necessarily associate with
Donizetti, and the finale of sacrifice works in dramatic terms.

Sime thoroughly
deserved his applause; it would be interesting to hear him as
Boccanegra, a role that he covers. Sherman makes a powerful Aurelio,
effortlessly dominating in ensemble and giving ferocious weight to
his/her arias. Another noteworthy voice is that of Paula Sides as
Eleonora, Aurelio’s wife and the mother of his son. A soprano with
all the high notes, but properly weighted, and able to convey the
pathos of the woman who is powerless to change fate.

This production has a
timeless setting (Samal Blak) with visual references to the 1940s
Stalingrad siege. These townfolk have all but given up hope of a
future, any sort of future. If they escape rape, robbery, and
wholesale slaughter, that might almost be enough.
You can see why
Piotr Lempa‘s agent provocateur, set on by
Adam Tunnicliffe‘s Edmondo initially stirs up the crowd to mutiny.
In such circumstances, a leader is always vulnerable.