FIRST NIGHT

Opera review: A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Snape Maltings, Suffolk

Though the movement direction is often awkward, Netia Jones has found a visual language in tune with Britten’s music
George Humphreys as Demetrius and Eleanor Dennis as Helena
George Humphreys as Demetrius and Eleanor Dennis as Helena

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★★★★☆
Silhouettes and torch light dance through a knot of leaves and branches in Netia Jones’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, commissioned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Snape Maltings concert hall and the opening event of this year’s festival. While the Athenian court slumbers, its breathing traced in low glissandi from the strings of the orchestra under Ryan Wigglesworth, the forest is in crisis. Oberon and Tytania, the Burton and Taylor of the fairy world, are at war. With the supreme self-absorption of those whose eyes are only for each other, they care little about the impact of their marital spat. Mortals are pawns in their domain.

Though the movement direction is often awkward, Jones has found a visual language in tune