Original settings in outstanding double bill from Opera North
The first night of the new Opera North Double Bill – Cavalleria Rusticana – Pietro Mascagni and Aleko – Sergei Rachmaninov at Leeds Grand Theatre – was a very un-British occasion. For two hours we experienced worlds where honour and virtue can only be satisfied through the barrel of a gun.
The enterprising Opera North team has transposed Cavalleria Rusticana from 19thcentury Sicily to late 1970s Europe. People are dressed in drab colours, the set is shades of grey and a giant cross indicates the dominant role of the church in people’s lives.
Contrasting with the monochrome of the surroundings is the extremity of the passions as two women, Sentuzza (Giselle
Allen) and Lola (Helen Evora), vie for the affections of the feckless Turridu (Andres Presno). When husband Alfio, the splendid Robert Hayward, finds out about the affair, he fishes his revolver from the glove box of his car and shoots Turridu.
Powerful stuff, matched by some powerful singing. When Presno unleashes full volume I sensed that the front rows flinched.
Giselle Allen matches him note for note, a considerable character conflict since her role is that of a retiring, deeply religious, penitent who knows her transgressions will be punished.
The alluring Lola, despite being the woman Turridu most covets, remains largely peripheral to the main action.
Rachmaninov wrote Aleko in 1892 aged 19, just two years after
Cavalleria Rusticana. It was a graduation piece for the Moscow Conservatory. As an example of juvenilia it is a remarkable achievement, but it lacks the intensity of Mascagni’s work.
Once again, the setting is translated from the original. This time, we appear to have moved from a gypsy campsite to what looks like a bar in Benidorm. As the Chorus lounge at tables, the drama of rat-race dropout Aleko (Robert Hayward) is played out between the woman he loves, Zemfira (Elin Pritchard) and her new inamorato (Andres Presno). Enraged, Aleko shoots them both.
With many of the principles, and the Chorus, transferring between the two, the singing in both is outstanding.
Opera North Double Bill continues in Leeds until March 8.
Mike Tilling