Scottish Opera Albert Herring Festival Theatre Edinburgh 13th November 2024 Review
Scottish Opera Albert Herring by Benjamin Britten was at the Festival Theatre tonight for a one date only performance, and judging by the amount of people in the audience tonight it is still as popular as it has ever been. The only problem with tonight’s performance was that so many people will miss the chance to enjoy one of the truly funny opera comedies of the 20th century.
The fact that Benjamin Britten decided to write a comedy opera at all came as surprise to many people when Albert Herring was first performed at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1947. Some declared it frivolous, some were less than happy about its content, and maybe too many people recognised their own slice of “Little England” and the people who live in the fictional town of Loxford and frequent its village hall.
Whatever reservations anyone had about Albert Herring, it is a beautifully scored opera. A wonderful libretto by Eric Cozier (based very loosely on a Guy de Maupassant short story) perfectly captures the class structure and morals of a society that even by 1947 was starting to disappear. Britten himself was a life-long champion of protecting traditions and village life, so this story that sees the search for a virtuous May Queen being a failure and having to be replaced by a May King gives ample scope for much fun and often biting social commentary in a lively script that is perfectly matched by Britten’s score.
In this chamber production created for the Lammermuir Festival, award-winning director Daisy Evans and designer Kat Heath are obviously having a lot of fun creating the village hall and the fruit shop where Albert Herring works. The stage set for this production is an economic one, but it works perfectly for this production.
The original libretto by Eric Cozier created such strong and individual characters that they needed only minor tweaks here and there to bring this world visually a little more up to date. This does produce at times an odd contrast between a world that is still using the pre-decimal, Imperial currency of pounds, shilling, pennies, and farthings, while some cast members are clearly dressed for a time-line somewhere in the 1990s (or later). Some other odd contrasts too as even in 1947 the gold sovereign coin, of which Albert Herring wins 25 as his May King prize, was already more of a bullion coin than its original value of £1 sterling.
Comedy operas always seem to work best with a smaller cast and this one is no exception, and the whole cast of this production were outstanding with some fine performances and character portrayals by everyone involved – Glen Cunningham (Albert Herring), Susan Bullock (Lady Billows), Jane Monari (Florence Pike), Miss Wordsworth, the school’s head teacher (Kira Kaplan), Mr Gedge, the Vicar (Francis Church), Mr Upfold, the Mayor (Jamie MacDougal) and PC Budd (Edward Jowle).
Behind this wonderful comedy there is a darker note too and that is that those who set themselves up as the guardians of morality may themselves be falling well short of the very standards that they so diligently seek to impose upon everyone else.
Tonight’s performance was conducted by William Cole who was making his company debut.
Albert Herring is an opera that anyone who has never considered going to an opera, for whatever reason, should try and see. For many people, it will probably be a big surprise that opera can also do comedy so well.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
The fact that Benjamin Britten decided to write a comedy opera at all came as surprise to many people when Albert Herring was first performed at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1947. Some declared it frivolous, some were less than happy about its content, and maybe too many people recognised their own slice of “Little England” and the people who live in the fictional town of Loxford and frequent its village hall.
Whatever reservations anyone had about Albert Herring, it is a beautifully scored opera. A wonderful libretto by Eric Cozier (based very loosely on a Guy de Maupassant short story) perfectly captures the class structure and morals of a society that even by 1947 was starting to disappear. Britten himself was a life-long champion of protecting traditions and village life, so this story that sees the search for a virtuous May Queen being a failure and having to be replaced by a May King gives ample scope for much fun and often biting social commentary in a lively script that is perfectly matched by Britten’s score.
In this chamber production created for the Lammermuir Festival, award-winning director Daisy Evans and designer Kat Heath are obviously having a lot of fun creating the village hall and the fruit shop where Albert Herring works. The stage set for this production is an economic one, but it works perfectly for this production.
The original libretto by Eric Cozier created such strong and individual characters that they needed only minor tweaks here and there to bring this world visually a little more up to date. This does produce at times an odd contrast between a world that is still using the pre-decimal, Imperial currency of pounds, shilling, pennies, and farthings, while some cast members are clearly dressed for a time-line somewhere in the 1990s (or later). Some other odd contrasts too as even in 1947 the gold sovereign coin, of which Albert Herring wins 25 as his May King prize, was already more of a bullion coin than its original value of £1 sterling.
Comedy operas always seem to work best with a smaller cast and this one is no exception, and the whole cast of this production were outstanding with some fine performances and character portrayals by everyone involved – Glen Cunningham (Albert Herring), Susan Bullock (Lady Billows), Jane Monari (Florence Pike), Miss Wordsworth, the school’s head teacher (Kira Kaplan), Mr Gedge, the Vicar (Francis Church), Mr Upfold, the Mayor (Jamie MacDougal) and PC Budd (Edward Jowle).
Behind this wonderful comedy there is a darker note too and that is that those who set themselves up as the guardians of morality may themselves be falling well short of the very standards that they so diligently seek to impose upon everyone else.
Tonight’s performance was conducted by William Cole who was making his company debut.
Albert Herring is an opera that anyone who has never considered going to an opera, for whatever reason, should try and see. For many people, it will probably be a big surprise that opera can also do comedy so well.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com