Grand operas on tour can be great unwieldy monsters, hugely expensive to stage and with eye-watering ticket prices to match. Not so where Pop-Up Opera are concerned, for they specialise in making opera more accessible and welcoming to a wider audience than is normally associated with this ‘elitist’ art form. Less grand perhaps, but a great deal more user-friendly.
By their standards the Tobacco Factory Theatres are a pretty conventional venue, as they have been known to perform in pubs, on a boat, on a farm, and in underground caverns. Their current production is Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi. This is most certainly not another version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Bellini drew directly from the Italian source that Shakespeare adapted, and there are many significant differences from the Bard’s take on this tale of a bitter family feud. There is no Mercutio and there is no Paris; it is Tybalt – ‘Tebaldo’ – whom the Capulets wish to see marry Giulietta. Bellini’s Romeo is no love-sick innocent, but a tough youngster who has killed Capulet’s son in battle. Before the opera begins he is already deep in a secret affair with Giulietta.
In this production much of the often violent action features short-tempered men quick to threaten each other with guns, and their modern dress and use of mobile phones brings the setting bang up-to-date. Equally contemporary are the cheekily colloquial surtitles, though I liked the way the very modern translations are paired with the original Italian for the major arias. The staging is very simple, making use of a few chairs, and portable strip-lights that the cast of just five singers occasionally reposition to create a change in mood. Last night this DIY feature was not to everyone’s taste, with some in the audience finding the lights uncomfortably bright.
Alice Privett portrayed a spirited yet frail Giulietta, torn between family loyalty and her love for Romeo. Her wonderfully controlled high pianissimo passages embodied both the heroine’s purity and her fragility. Having already collected a number of prestigious awards, Ms Privett is surely a future operatic star. Katie Grosset’s Romeo was a far more robust and assertive character, street-wise and pugnacious. Such trouser roles can appear odd to a modern audience, but this talented mezzo-soprano delivered an entirely persuasive mix of youthful passion and macho swagger. This was a less sympathetic Romeo than Shakespeare’s perhaps, but just as dramatically effective. Equally impressive was tenor Oliver Brignall’s Tebaldo, full of menace but genuinely in love with Giulietta. Bellini’s ‘Friar Laurence’ is the Capulet’s consigliere Lorenzo, who has long known of Giulietta’s affair with Romeo. Matthew Palmer has a rich baritone, but I felt he could have made more of Lorenzo’s conflicted character.
All of last night’s cast were in tremendous voice, though Eugene Dillon-Hooper is perhaps too young to be entirely convincing as Capellio, Giulietta’s unbending, vengeful father. It is Pop-Up’s admirable intent to create opportunities for those in the very earliest stage of their professional careers, so it is inevitable that the roles of older characters are taken by very young singers. In contrast to the often brutal action, Bellini’s score is unfailingly lyrical throughout, and though the colour and dynamic range of a full orchestra and chorus was missing, Richard Leach’s piano accompaniment was full of character. One great advantage of this stripped down configuration is the closeness of the relationship created between audience and singers; there is no orchestra pit to separate one from the other. The bel canto repertoire has not featured high on my list of favourite operas, but this high-quality production won me over. Pop-Up say that they aim to make opera ‘captivating, fun, fresh and intimate’; with I Capuleti e i Montecchi they have most certainly succeeded. ★★★★☆ Mike Whitton 2nd May 2016
