UK Edition
Review
Ulysses’ Homecoming: a fine production of a great baroque opera – review
On the road this autumn from Durham to Exeter, English Touring Opera truly merits the central adjective “National”, currently held by an organisation that hasn’t left London for decades. Only modestly subsidised, ETO does a terrific job of bringing work of high quality to smaller cities and towns: it deserves more support than it gets.
This fine production of a great baroque opera shows ETO at its best: for its simplicity, honesty and integrity, I admired it more than anything else I have seen in London this autumn, and the tickets are a fraction of the price of more puffed-up shows at Covent Garden or the Coliseum.
Scholars have argued fiercely over the authorship of Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria, but we may assume that Monteverdi had at least a major hand in its composition. Here it is presented as Ulysses’ Homecoming, in an excruciatingly prim translation by Anne Ridler that left me thinking that opera turned into flat Home Service English has become a lost cause.
Aside from that, I have no reservations. James Conway’s crisply paced and tastefully composed staging is refreshingly devoid of gimmicks. The costuming is unspecifically classical; the budget precludes any attempt to imitate the spectacular stage effects that would have enhanced the original production in 17th-century Venice – takis’s elegant setting is no more than a wall with doors and a wide shallow flight of steps.
Instead 10 fine singers have been left to tell the story, which they do most adroitly. Benedict Nelson, a baritone with an exceptionally beautiful voice whose appearances at ENO have been faintly disappointing, seems firmly in his element here – his Ulysses powerfully suggests both the physical strength of the grizzled old campaigner and the wisdom that comes with it. As his patient wife Penelope, Carolyn Dobbin sings with eloquently restrained poise, a still figure in a turning world. Adam Player does an endearing comic turn as the foppish menial Irus, and Katie Bray declaims Minerva’s injunctions with irresistible authority and panache. I wish I had space to extend my praise.
Jonathan Peter Kenny forcefully conducts an adaptation of Paul Daniel’s edition of the score, and there is excellent continuo playing throughout. Some characters and scenes are cut in this version, but not even the most fanatic of purists will feel short-changed by such a beautiful performance.
Until 26 Nov;. Tickets: 0207 833 2555; englishtouringopera.org.uk