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Until August 15
Producer: Ensemble Orquesta
Composed by Henry Purcell
Libretto by Nahum Tate
Directed by Marcio da Silva
Running time: 70 minutes
Cast: Helen May, Rosemary Carlton-Willis, Marcio da Silva, Sofia Galvão, Emma Humann, Priscilla Fong, Cecilia Zhang and Paul Jenkins
Singer and director Marcio da Silva opens his version of Purcell’s only fully sung opera with a request that the audience vote on who takes the role of Dido.
It felt at first like a gimmick, at odds with high tragedy, and yet it takes on a serious purpose: we, like the gods, or the fates, or Purcell’s witches, are the arbitrary deciders of one human’s destiny.
On the night in question, Helen May narrowly won, if that is not too victorious a word, the role of Dido. Her unflinching power made it seem the right decision.
The rival candidate Rosemary Carlton-Willis instead enjoyed triumph as the Sorceress, initially cradling May’s tormented Dido in her arms, apparently in empathy with her struggle with extreme emotion.
The production’s energy is transformed from enduring strength to malign animation as Carlton-Willis’ Sorceress is joined by Emma Humann and Priscilla Fong as the first and second witches.
In diametric contrast to May’s grave stillness, their faces dance with mischief and their hair is as unbrushed as hers is tightly braided. Arguably, they serve as a safety valve, lest the dramatic premise that one human passion is of elemental importance should teeter on the brink of the ridiculous.
In the role of Aeneas, Marcio da Silva, is mellow and deep and doomed to foreswear: the gods, not love must be obeyed, a truth the lyrics powerfully articulated by da Silva and May make irrefutable.
Not all the articulation was as pellucid as that of the two leads, but that’s a minor quibble with a production supported by steady and powerful musicianship in what the director’s note tells us is in its fifth, minimalist iteration since its creation in 2016.
Dido and Aeneas
Until August 15
Producer: Ensemble Orquesta
Composed by Henry Purcell
Libretto by Nahum Tate
Directed by Marcio da Silva
Running time: 70 minutes
Cast: Helen May, Rosemary Carlton-Willis, Marcio da Silva, Sofia Galvão, Emma Humann, Priscilla Fong, Cecilia Zhang and Paul Jenkins
Singer and director Marcio da Silva opens his version of Purcell’s only fully sung opera with a request that the audience vote on who takes the role of Dido.
It felt at first like a gimmick, at odds with high tragedy, and yet it takes on a serious purpose: we, like the gods, or the fates, or Purcell’s witches, are the arbitrary deciders of one human’s destiny.
On the night in question, Helen May narrowly won, if that is not too victorious a word, the role of Dido. Her unflinching power made it seem the right decision.
The rival candidate Rosemary Carlton-Willis instead enjoyed triumph as the Sorceress, initially cradling May’s tormented Dido in her arms, apparently in empathy with her struggle with extreme emotion.
The production’s energy is transformed from enduring strength to malign animation as Carlton-Willis’ Sorceress is joined by Emma Humann and Priscilla Fong as the first and second witches.
In diametric contrast to May’s grave stillness, their faces dance with mischief and their hair is as unbrushed as hers is tightly braided. Arguably, they serve as a safety valve, lest the dramatic premise that one human passion is of elemental importance should teeter on the brink of the ridiculous.
In the role of Aeneas, Marcio da Silva, is mellow and deep and doomed to foreswear: the gods, not love must be obeyed, a truth the lyrics powerfully articulated by da Silva and May make irrefutable.
Not all the articulation was as pellucid as that of the two leads, but that’s a minor quibble with a production supported by steady and powerful musicianship in what the director’s note tells us is in its fifth, minimalist iteration since its creation in 2016.
Barbara Lewis © 2026.
By Barbara Lewis • added recently on London Grip, music, opera, performance, theatre • Tags: Barbara Lewis, music, opera, performance, theatre