Wexford: The Rose of Castile
National Opera House (Jerome Hynes Theatre) Wexford 24/10/26
Rebecca Warren (music director, piano); Eleri Gwilym (soprano); Erin Fflur (mezzo-soprano); Myrna Tennant (mezzo-soprano); Eamonn Walsh (tenor), Jonah Halton (tenor); Conor Cooper (bass-baritone); Rory Musgrave (baritone); Peter McCamley (narrator)
My first report from the 75th Anniversary Wexford Festival Opera season covers an 1857 (originally 3-act) opera by Irish composer Michael William Balfe, his first major success after the better-known ‘Bohemian Girl’ (1843), and one of the operas staged in the very first Wexford Festival 75 years ago. In 2026, the production is a ‘Pocket Opera’, meaning that it is performed in the smaller Jerome Hynes Theatre at the National Opera House, with the score in piano reduction, and the libretto tweaked to fit to a one-acter with all the best bits and some narration to keep things moving. Irish répétiteur and collaborative pianist Rebecca Warren is the music director and pianist. I caught the performance of the afternoon of 24th October. Although this was my first encounter with it in performance, I knew of its existence, as it is mentioned in James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’. The production is directed by Heather Hadrill (‘The Little Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at last year’s WFO), designed by Lisa Krügel (Zemlinsky’s ‘The Dwarf’ last year) and lit by Cian Redmond. The setting is shifted to Spain in 1929, enabling some super 1920s costume.
Welsh soprano Eleri Gwilym (the Infanta in ‘The Dwarf’ last year) plays Queen Elvira of León, in disguise as a peasant girl to avoid a forced marriage to Don Sebastian, arranged by his brother, the King of Castile. Along the way, she falls in love with a muleteer named Manuel, who is actually the King of Castile in disguise. Welsh mezzo Erin Fflur (a super eponymous ‘Lady Gregory in America’ in 2024 and a housemaid in ‘The Dwarf’ last year) plays Donna Carmen, her lady-in-waiting, disguised as a peasant boy.
Don Pedro, Elvira’s cousin, is played by Irish baritone and WFO regular Rory Musgrave (Bottom in ‘The Little Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and Ulysses in ‘Deidamia’ last year, Dulcamara in the previous year’s ‘Elixir of Love’). He is plotting to usurp her throne. His quasi-mafiosi accomplices, Dons Sallust and Florio are played respectively by English tenor Jonah Halton and Irish bass-baritone Conor Cooper (Garcia and Zuniga respectively in ‘La Tragédie de Carmen’ last year).
Manuel (a cab-driver for Muleteer Cabs) is played by Irish tenor Eamonn Walsh. Elvira twigs straight away that he is a nobleman in disguise but wrongly suspects that he is actually Don Sebastian, and is surprised to discover that she really fancies him (the feeling is mutual). Ultimately, the web of intrigue, double-bluff disguise and conspiracy unravels, so-called Manuel and actual Elvira together outwit the conspirators, and Elvira keeps her throne of León, also marrying the King of Castile and becoming the ‘Rose of Castile’. At the pinnacle of the farce, she is the Queen of León, disguised as a peasant girl, suborned by the conspirators into “impersonating” herself. When her real identity becomes clear to the conspirators, their “cunning Plan B” is to force her abdication for bringing disgrace on the royal house by marrying a ‘Muleteer’. But, of course, he is the King of Castile.
Beatrix, a disapproving dowager duchess at the Court of León, was played by RCS graduate, Dutch-British mezzo-soprano Myrna Tennant. Wexford-based multi-talented actor and WFO regular Peter McCamley ( a mercurial but bungling Puck in ‘The Little Midsummer Night’s Dream’ last year) was the narrator, in the role of a New York newspaper reporter, scooping the intrigue (and keeping the audience in the picture with the full bonkers plot). Excellent Runyonesque accent. A handful of supers provided well-costumed crowd figures and quasi-choral vocals.
My father grew up in the provincial town of Dungarvan, Co. Waterford in the 30s and 40s. An anti-pretentiousness phrase I often heard from my grandmother was “’Twas far from it you were reared”. Yet, whilst those words could be (and indeed were) levelled at grand opera, paradoxically (and I know this for a fact) the whole community was familiar with the operas of Wallace and Balfe, held them in great esteem and affection, and could quote from them, words and music. That music was embedded in the culture and seemed to exist in the ether. So, although this was my first live hearing of ‘The Rose of Castile’, it was strangely familiar. I’m sure I (at least once) heard my Granny quoting Manuel’s aria, ‘‘Twas rank and fame that tempted thee’. The inclusion of this opera in the 75th Festival links to more than just the Festival’s history, but something in Irish culture extending back much further.
The sets were colourful and imaginative. Three huge gilt picture frames, the two outer ones framing large Queen and King playing cards, helped to remind us of Elvira and Manuel’s true identities. The larger central frame drew focus to key moments or props. The inn of the original became Pablo’s Bar. Minus the tables, it was easily the courts of León or Castile.
The music is a delight, freely switching between buffa and seria styles. Balfe gives Elvira some fabulously ornate coloratura, as well as lilting waltz and seguidilla arias, and Eleri Gwilym rose elegantly to them all. Duets, of attraction with Manuel, plotting with Carmen, and adversarial deception with Pedro were superb. Manuel’s arias of devotion to Elvira were gorgeous. Pedro gets the biggest range of music: impatient conspirator, scheming villain, but also a sensitive soul at heart (if you can believeit). A comedic highlight for me was the trio of the conspirators, still gleefully on Plan A. In conclusion, set as a rom-com with plenty of both, the opera and this production are a gem. Full marks from me.
photo credit: Padraig Grant
https://www.wexfordopera.com/programme/festival-programme/the-rose-of-castile-2