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Stage Review - Rigoletto

Tuesday 13th until Saturday 24th October 2009 @ Tobacco Factory Theatre, Bristol

I’m not going to pretend I’m any kind of expert on opera. In fact, this was the first time I’ve ever watched the art form live and judging by the jubilant response by the rest of the audience, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the Opera Project’s latest production of Rigoletto, I was just a little bemused and constantly had to refer to the programme to keep up. I eventually rationalised that it must be a bit like getting into Shakespeare; bewildering at first, but once you’ve got your head around it, all sorts of exciting and pleasurable doors are opened.

As I settled myself down in the round seating of the Tobacco Factory, my first mistake was to view the performance in front of me as theatre. Several times I caught myself over-analysing the set (which looked like a daytime TV garden makeover victim), criticising the contrived stage direction, getting distracted by the performers’ unnatural gesturing and mocking the costumes which made most of the cast look like they were part of a tubby Freddy Mercury tribute act. I had to stop and reminded myself however that this is not theatre and I should stop viewing it as such; this is opera!

People haven’t come to be intrigued and engaged by the set or stage direction, they are 99% here for the music and the singing, both of which I had been taking for granted. All night, every note from performer and instrument was flawless. The orchestra were impeccable and the voices so powerful that in this tiny venue you could almost see the air being violently bounced around. It was very, very impressive stuff indeed. I have not benchmark to work from but based on the wooping and constant hollerings of “Bravo!” by those around me, I can safely assume this is top dollar opera.