Opera
TOP PICK: The Barber Of Seville, Festival Theatre, August 5–8 This year’s opera programme has a much lighter feel than previous festival editions, from the comic wit of Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber Of Seville and La Cenerentola to John Gay’s outrageous 1728 comedy The Beggar’s Opera.
The Théâtre des Champs-elysées bring their new production of The Barber Of Seville to the Festival Theatre – a fun and energetic tale of love, trickery, disguise and lies. The performance also marks a return to Edinburgh by French conductor Jérémie Rhorer.
The Opera de Lyon stays with Rossini for La Cenerentola, presenting the story of Cinderella with a light-hearted twist – gone are the glass slippers, fairy godmothers and even the wicked stepmother, who is replaced by a foolish stepfather. Its Norwegian director Stefan Herheim weaves a comedic thread through the entire production – even the conductor is dragged from the orchestra pit as part of the spectacle.
The Beggar’s Opera, meanwhile, offers a contemporary staging of John Gay’s “ballad opera” with a comic take on crime, greed and double standards.