A ‘Barber’ that favours stylists over substance
Il Barbiere di Siviglia Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
Entirely devoid of depth, ambiguity or poignancy, Rossini’s essay in the pitiless eternal comedy of youthful libido outwitting the fat, old and stupid needs to be played fast and hard if it is to make its effect.
Laurent Pelly’s zany production, imported to the Edinburgh International Festival from France, certainly makes it crystal clear that this isn’t a situation or a group of characters to be taken seriously. But it refuses to provide the farce with a meaningful context, supplying only neutrally modern costuming and a setting of giant scrolls of blank music manuscript paper.
From such an abstract tableau, you’d have to know the plot intimately to understand that Rosina is trapped indoors by the venal old codger Doctor Bartolo, or that Almaviva can pull rank as an aristocrat, or that Figaro (presented here as a roadie in a heavy metal band, descending godlike from the flies) is a lowly tradesman with a particular skill in the tonsorial line.
To the uninitiated, the farcical plot floats around in a vacuum, without any sense of the intrigue surrounding Rosina’s escape or the social roles that put the characters at odds. It looks quite stylish – never more so than when showers of pink rose petals flutter down – but you end up feeling that the concept is not so much an interpretation of the text as an opportunistic attempt to do something different.
The authentic Rossinian spirit is jumping in the pit, however, where Jérémie Rhorer conducts the “period” orchestra Le Cercle de l’harmonie in a gaily exuberant reading of the score, sparkling with zest and humour.
There’s also a smash of a performance by the young American tenor Michele Angelini, clearly a contender for Juan Diego Flórez’s throne in this repertory. His Almaviva is sung with cleanly projected tone and a nice sense of fun, crowned with a terrific account of the virtuosic aria “Cessa di più resistere”.
The remainder of the cast sadly isn’t on his level. Catherine Trottmann makes an unbeguiling Rosina, with clouded diction, while Guillaume Andrieux is a vocally weak Figaro, short of swagger and bravado. Péter Kálmán and Robert Gleadow would have made stronger marks as Bartolo and Basilio had Pelly made it clear who they were and what they represented.
Barbiere may not have a heart, but it needs to be anchored in a real world if it is to have any life at all.
Ends tonight. Tickets: 0131 473 2000; eif.co.uk