Medea, English National Opera, review

David McVicar’s production brings Charpentier’s opera, Medea, handsomely to life

By John Allison 28 February 2013 • 6:22pm

Medea performed by English National Opera with
Roderick Williams as Orontes, Katherine Manley as Creusa — Medea performed by English National Opera with Roderick Williams as Orontes, Katherine Manley as Creusa Credit: Photo: Alastair Muir

Unlikely though it may seem, English National Opera is developing a reputation for the French Baroque, one of the trickiest and most neglected corners of the repertoire.

After last season’s Castor and Pollux, a Rameau opera, it is staging the first professional British production of Charpentier’s Medea (1693), and succeeds against the odds in making it work in such a big space as the London Coliseum.

Even Christopher Cowell’s beautifully idiomatic translation carries well, thanks to Christian Curnyn’s lithe musical direction.

But it is David McVicar’s show that brings the work alive here. Bunny Christie's handsome designs transport us to the France of the provisional government of de Gaulle, with Brindley Sherratt’s strong Creon resembling the man himself.

The fine cast includes Jeffrey Francis (Jason), Roderick Williams (Orontes) and Katherine Manley (Creusa), yet the evening is dominated vocally and dramatically by Sarah Connolly, who takes Euripides’s child-murdering sorceress on a timeless and terrifying emotional journey.

To Mar 16; www.eno.org