Page 210 - Guildhall Coverage Book 2020-21
P. 210
It is perhaps a reflection of the rarity of the three operas that the only time I have seen Wolf-Ferrari's
1909 comedy and Mascagni's 1896 scena lirica was at Opera Holland Park, and that this was my first
live encounter with Donizetti's 1841 comedy.
Wolf-Ferrari: Susanna’s Secret - Brenton Spiteri, Adam Maxey
Guildhall School (Photo © Mihaela Bodlovic)
Medcalf's productions took each work at face value, setting the pieces in the present day and utilising
Chilsolm's striking single set with evocative videos setting the scene at the beginning of each work.
This approach is not without problems. Wolf-Ferrari's comedy hinges on the ludicrous attempts of
Susanna (Olivia Boen) to hide the fact that she smokes from her husband Gil (Adam Maxey), though
with the modern disapproval of smoking perhaps the comedy is coming back into period. Donizetti's
comedy is about spouse-beating, Rita (Laura Lolita Perešivana) beats her second husband, Beppe
(Brenton Spiteri) whilst her first husband Gaspar (Chuma Sijeqa) has a delightful aria about the
benefits and joys of wife beating! This is definitely a case of autre temps, autre moeurs.
The production involved even more of the production arts students as the technical crew handled the
sound, video and broadcast as well as the usual production teams required in opera. And it was a live
broadcast too with a real attempt to introduce some interestingly filmic camera work rather than
simply pointing at the stage. The result was an evening of imaginative and engaging opera which
came as close as possible to a live experience.
The social distance requirements meant that Medcalf's production kept the protagonists apart, but all
concerned made it work and this was not something I really noticed. Perhaps more significantly, in
order to have a live orchestra there just wasn't room for a full string complement in the theatre but the
results were strong and vivid, the character of the playing in the Wolf-Ferrari more than made up for
the lack of lushness in the string sound.
