Faust
Fiery Fate for Lovers
A flame haired heroine, burning passions and a fiery fate were matched in a glowing production by Stanley Opera at the Concordia Theatre of Gounod’s Faust in a new English translation by Christopher Cowell.
Nick Bacon and Janet Ward’s production, dedicated to the memory of Alf Furnish, who died last year and who directed this same opera in 1993, reached a red hot climax with the lovers facing their different fates in a brilliant trio aria with the other principal character, the devil.
The rejuvenation of Dr Faust, tempted by the chance to seduce a beautiful girl in a pact with the devil, was no greater transformation than that which the Stanley company has undergone in the past couple of years.
With the very fine Vincenzo Sozzo and Louise Clarke again singing the lead roles and injection of equally highly talented newcomers, like Chris Marlow as Mephistopheles and Andrew Lamb as Valentin, a greater edge of professionalism has been added.
Just as Marguerite’s ‘spirit’ ascends from her body in the city prison cell finale (‘cloning’ here and in the earlier mirror image scene being so excellent they could have been twins) so the company has shed its amateur appearance and now ranks among the best at this level.
Everything about the production down to the highly readable programme – a lesson here for other companies – exudes class nowadays.
Personally I did not enjoy this show as much as Aida last year, but the fault here lies in the opera rather than its presentation as I prefer a busier more co-ordinated piece than what seemed to me a series of solo performances.
However, I was alone in this as the rest of the last night audience loved it and my wife rated it better than Aida.
The only common we had was that the principals sang towards the auditorium rather than to the character they were addressing when projection should have been angled to to achieve both aims.
I also found it slightly disconcerting at first that the role of Siebel, a male character, was sung by a woman, something I am told is usual, but then Ethne Goode’s performance was so good I quickly overcame this feeling.
With a great rendition of the soldiers’ chorus and welcome touches of humour, overall, this was first class and opera lovers will look forward to next year’s show and the chance to see excellence at a price everyone can afford.
Mitch Irving, Hinckley Times, April 2004
