“Figaro, Figaro, Figaro, Figarohhhhh” – you’ll know that one. Gioacchino Rossini’s ‘The Barber of Seville’ is perhaps one of the more digestible operas, appealing even to those who, like me admittedly, can find opera a little…drawn out. It’s a witty opera buffa – a comedy – with buffoonish characters and a simple plot: two men (Count Almaviva and Dr Bartolo) love one woman (Rosina), barber (Figaro) helps out with various deception ploys to help get one of said men (Almaviva) get the woman he loves.
The New Chamber Opera’s Studio production presents us with an immediately amicable cast, with the audience giggling at the outset as the street orchestra stumbles on stage looking somewhere between the Beach Boys and Take That (in their wilderness years). Already, we’re being surprised. We’re quickly met by the barber himself who Dominic Bowe performs with a wonderfully weird gusto – he reminded me of David Tennant. The beloved Rosina, performed by Esther Brazil, is suitably sweet but Julia Sitkovetsky plays her female associate, the housekeeper Bertha, with captivatingly edgy charisma.
Being an opera, the singing is pretty crucial to the overall success or otherwise of the production, and in this instance its appropriately comically timed and confidently delivered. Cheeringly, everyone looks like they’re having lots of fun, and this is contagious. At times I felt some singers were a little quiet, but on the whole the playfulness in Rossini’s work came shining through and it was a delight to hear the more well-known numbers being mischievously rattled off.
For me, however, the setup at the Sheldonian is never going to be unproblematic. With this production we see the orchestra central, ringed by the stage, so the action takes place in ever-ongoing circles, which can leave one feeling a little dizzy; couple this with the fact that I was seated behind a pillar in the balcony (benches, with very little leg room), and I found it extremely difficult to settle in and enjoy the performance. This is such a shame, especially with such an enthusiastic, original and talented assembly giving it their all to keep my spirits up.
The New Chamber Opera’s Studio production presents us with an immediately amicable cast, with the audience giggling at the outset as the street orchestra stumbles on stage looking somewhere between the Beach Boys and Take That (in their wilderness years). Already, we’re being surprised. We’re quickly met by the barber himself who Dominic Bowe performs with a wonderfully weird gusto – he reminded me of David Tennant. The beloved Rosina, performed by Esther Brazil, is suitably sweet but Julia Sitkovetsky plays her female associate, the housekeeper Bertha, with captivatingly edgy charisma.
Being an opera, the singing is pretty crucial to the overall success or otherwise of the production, and in this instance its appropriately comically timed and confidently delivered. Cheeringly, everyone looks like they’re having lots of fun, and this is contagious. At times I felt some singers were a little quiet, but on the whole the playfulness in Rossini’s work came shining through and it was a delight to hear the more well-known numbers being mischievously rattled off.
For me, however, the setup at the Sheldonian is never going to be unproblematic. With this production we see the orchestra central, ringed by the stage, so the action takes place in ever-ongoing circles, which can leave one feeling a little dizzy; couple this with the fact that I was seated behind a pillar in the balcony (benches, with very little leg room), and I found it extremely difficult to settle in and enjoy the performance. This is such a shame, especially with such an enthusiastic, original and talented assembly giving it their all to keep my spirits up.