It would be pointless judging this production by concentrating on the staging and direction.
The pleasure of this opening offering in WNO’s bold Tudor Queens season is the achievements of the cast, particularly the singing in the punishing leading role by Serena Farnocchia.
She may lose her mind as the opera progresses and the curtain falls as she is about to lose her head, the victim of Henry’s deadly plotting and machinations to place the crown on the head and then bed Jane Seymour, but she vocally grows into this gargantuan role.
Director Alessandro Talevi has the challenge of bringing to life a work dangerously close to being simply a vehicle for displays of the most virtuosic singing.
Has he succeeded? At times, yes, but this production is as dark, stylised and oppressive as the court it is trying to portray so that it will alienate as many audience members as it will delight.
Farnocchia impresses but does not tower above other singers in their command of the roles.
We have a captivating, dramatically superb, Katharine Goeldner as her rival Jane Seymour and the excellence of chorus and orchestra, here robustly conducted by Daniele Rustioni.
The production comes to life in the second act with the duet between doomed queen and her rival and the mad scene that the entire work builds towards.
The pantomime booing for Henry was comment on the character, not Alastair Miles’ secure singing. Robert McPherson has lyrical appeal as Percy, the love Anna brushes aside for the crown with an appealing Faith Sherman in the trouser role of Smeton, the youth with the fatal crush on Anna, with strong support from Daniel Grice as Anna’s brother George and Robyn Lyn Evans as Lord Hervey.
As for the designs of Madeleine Boyd: imagine the insides of a black industrial estate unit inhabited by black attired characters from an indistinguishable period.
The revolving stage on which the symbolic empty crib, into which the queen in her madness climbs , is used to interesting effect but at times is a distraction.
The hypocrisy and baseness of the court is interestingly teased out from the ladies chorus, while the blood stained wedding dress is obvious. The enjoyment is in the singing above all else.
WMC until Oct 4; Swansea Grand Theatre, October 9; Venue Cymru, Llandudno, November 20 and touring England.
