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The director Joe Hill-Gibbins first came to my attention with his startling Duke Bluebeard’s Castle at English National Opera last year. He has a particular vision which takes the essence of a classic and plunges it into a contemporary setting which is unsettling and brilliant.
In The Marriage of Figaro, he sets the comic opera in a contemporary décor which pulls the 18th century critique of misogyny into our own time. And what he does, is make the opera both a homage to playwright Beaumarchais’ absurdist plot and, of course to Mozart’s music. At times he is outrageously playful. Hill-Gibbons provoked gasps of delight when Mon Coeur Soupire/My Heart Sighs was delivered sixties Girl-Band style. This is great chutzpah.
The production is constantly challenging its own aesthetic with its fast-moving tableaux requiring performers to comment on their characters. They pose against walls, their bodies spatchcocked in angular shapes; the eye and ear is always stimulated. Although there are so many elements of boulevard farce, which are emphasised by the multiple doors décor, the darkness at the heart of this opera is not compromised: it hits home in the second act. Johannes Schütz’s deceptively simple design gradually becomes more complex as it plays with levels to frame and deconstruct character. This works both visually, politically and psychologically. Elements of Brecht’s Verfremdungseffekt are realised in this production where Hill-Gibbons synthesises his take through Jenny Ogilvies’witty movement design. There is a satisfying sense of Total Theatre here.
Hill-Gibbins plunges this classic into current debates about gender in a subtle way. His direction of the mercurial Hanna Hipp produces a most engagingly amoral Cherubino. Mary Bevan’s Susanna has a strong sense of character development and Nardus Williams, as the Countess, commands empathy and admiration. Her voice is astounding in range and warmth. David Ireland as Figaro, Cody Quattlebaum, as the predatory Count, and the whole ensemble unite in a company that is in the finest voice. Conductor Ain?rs Rubi?is, seamlessly led the musicians and singers with great gusto. I caught the last performances at the Coliseum and would plead for this joyous production to return.
The Marriage of Figaro, ENO.
Review by Julia Pascal.
The director Joe Hill-Gibbins first came to my attention with his startling Duke Bluebeard’s Castle at English National Opera last year. He has a particular vision which takes the essence of a classic and plunges it into a contemporary setting which is unsettling and brilliant.
In The Marriage of Figaro, he sets the comic opera in a contemporary décor which pulls the 18th century critique of misogyny into our own time. And what he does, is make the opera both a homage to playwright Beaumarchais’ absurdist plot and, of course to Mozart’s music. At times he is outrageously playful. Hill-Gibbons provoked gasps of delight when Mon Coeur Soupire/My Heart Sighs was delivered sixties Girl-Band style. This is great chutzpah.
The production is constantly challenging its own aesthetic with its fast-moving tableaux requiring performers to comment on their characters. They pose against walls, their bodies spatchcocked in angular shapes; the eye and ear is always stimulated. Although there are so many elements of boulevard farce, which are emphasised by the multiple doors décor, the darkness at the heart of this opera is not compromised: it hits home in the second act. Johannes Schütz’s deceptively simple design gradually becomes more complex as it plays with levels to frame and deconstruct character. This works both visually, politically and psychologically. Elements of Brecht’s Verfremdungseffekt are realised in this production where Hill-Gibbons synthesises his take through Jenny Ogilvies’witty movement design. There is a satisfying sense of Total Theatre here.
Hill-Gibbins plunges this classic into current debates about gender in a subtle way. His direction of the mercurial Hanna Hipp produces a most engagingly amoral Cherubino. Mary Bevan’s Susanna has a strong sense of character development and Nardus Williams, as the Countess, commands empathy and admiration. Her voice is astounding in range and warmth. David Ireland as Figaro, Cody Quattlebaum, as the predatory Count, and the whole ensemble unite in a company that is in the finest voice. Conductor Ain?rs Rubi?is, seamlessly led the musicians and singers with great gusto. I caught the last performances at the Coliseum and would plead for this joyous production to return.
Julia Pascal © 2025.
By Julia Pascal • music, opera, theatre, year 2025 • Tags: Julia Pascal, music, opera, theatre