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Darkly expressive … Sarah Tynan in Lucia di Lammermoor.
Darkly expressive … Sarah Tynan as Lucia in English National Opera’s revival of Donizetti’s 1835 opera. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian
Darkly expressive … Sarah Tynan as Lucia in English National Opera’s revival of Donizetti’s 1835 opera. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

Lucia di Lammermoor review – a superbly cogent piece of theatre

This article is more than 5 years old

Coliseum, London
In her role debut, Sarah Tynan is a thrilling Lucia, ably supported by a tremendous cast in a strong and stylish revival of David Alden’s 2008 production

David Alden’s unsettling production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor returns to English National Opera’s repertory after an absence of over eight years for a major revival, scrupulously reworked by Alden himself for an exceptional, largely new cast. His staging, psychodramatic in approach and fiercely challenging the work’s reputation as primarily a display piece, was considered both groundbreaking and controversial when it was first seen in 2008. I had reservations about it when it was new, some of which remain. But opinion can change over time, and 10 years on it strikes me as a superbly cogent piece of theatre, subtle and disturbing in equal measure.

Alden updates the work from the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to the mid-19th century and in so doing explores the hypocrisies and power structures of Victorian Britain that resonate down to our own times. The Ashton mansion, strikingly designed by Charles Edwards, is a stifling, decrepit hell hole where portraits of the family ancestors stare inscrutably down from the walls as Sarah Tynan’s Lucia is exploited and bartered for the sake of financial expediency. This is a world in which adherence to tradition masks brutality and abuse, and conspiracies of silence destroy lives.

‘A proud, impulsive hothead’ ... Eleazar Rodríguez as Edgardo with Sarah Tynan as Lucia. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

Lucia is sexually assaulted by her brother Enrico (Lester Lynch) in the presence of the family chaplain, Raimondo (Clive Bayley), who turns his back on them before unctuously proffering Lucia support when Enrico is out of the way. Eleazar Rodríguez’s Edgardo is a proud, impulsive hothead with a violent temper, who throws Lucia to the floor at one point when she contradicts him. Forced into marriage with Michael Colvin’s supercilious Arturo, she becomes a sacrificial victim pinioned on an altar, and madness is her only means of escape from the men who seek to control her life.

The drawback to Alden’s approach is that he loses sight of the work’s political dimension – specifically the crucial fact that Edgardo and Enrico face each other across a divide that is as much ideological as monetary. But even so, this is a darkly compelling interpretation and the final scenes in particular are chilling. Bayley rounds on Elgan Llŷr Thomas’s Normanno, accusing him of being the tragedy’s prime mover, but it’s clear by the time the curtain falls that the moral responsibility for Lucia’s death is communal, that an entire society has her blood on its hands.

Silvery purity of tone … Sarah Tynan, with Lester Lynch as Enrico Ashton. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

Musically, it’s exceptionally strong. Tackling the title role for the first time, Tynan sings with a silvery purity of tone and an exquisite sense of line. Her coloratura is admirably liquid, yet always placed at the service of the drama. She can be thrillingly accurate in her upper registers, though in the Mad Scene she replaces the traditional showpiece cadenza with something altogether more thoughtful and darkly expressive. Rodríguez makes an outstanding Edgardo, meanwhile: handsome-sounding, impeccably stylish and intense, with an easy ring at the top of his voice.

Lynch, a fine vocal actor, expertly captures Enrico’s obsessive temperament and self-loathing, while Bayley, returning to the role he sang in the first run, is oily hypocrisy incarnate. The smaller roles are cast from strength and vividly characterised. Stuart Stratford conducts with great passion and care, slowly ratcheting up the tension as the evening progresses. The choral singing is tremendous.

  • Until 5 December. Box office: 020-7845-9300

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