EIF: Falstaff
The Festival Theatre
Readers of the Edinburgh Music Review will remember that I recently reviewed Scottish Opera’s new production of ‘Falstaff’, directed by David McVicar, from a car park in Glasgow! I reviewed it favourably, but said there some challenges not least the wind, the cold and the uncomfortable seats! Last night Scottish Opera brought it to Edinburgh’s opera house, the Festival Theatre, and it was superb. Indeed I can say this is the finest ‘Falstaff’ I have seen in more than 50 years of opera going. Of course I have seen greater singers in past productions; I remember Geraint Evans at Covent Garden in the 1960s and more recently Bryan Terfel as the fat knight, but I would say that Roland Wood’s Falstaff compares well with them. What makes McVicar’s ‘Falstaff’ superb is the theatrical direction, in particular the comic business. This is the funniest ‘Falstaff’ you are ever likely to see and last night’s COVID restricted audience of 400 laughed repeatedly. What was also better than Glasgow was not only the comfortable seats and the warmth but the sound, both from the orchestra (conducted beautifully by Stuart Stratford and playing socially distanced behind the stage and amplified sensitively to the audience) and from the singers, who were very clearly heard against the music without amplification. There is also the matter of the surtitles, which were not possible in the Glasgow venue. Yes it was sung in English, but to have the text above us made getting the jokes much easier!
As for the singers, those that performed well in Glasgow were even better in Edinburgh. To begin with Roland Wood’s superb Falstaff - he now inhabits this part and his voice, and his comic timing are of international standing. Elizabeth Llewelyn is a sumptuous Alice Ford; Gemma Summerfield was a splendid Nanetta with her partner Fenton well sung by Elgan Llyr Thomas. Ford was sung by Philip Rhodes and was excellent. Alastair Miles revelled in the role of Pistol and Jamie MacDougall got lots of laughs as the comic Scottish Bardolph. Louise Winter was a very funny Mistress Quickly and Sioned Gwen Davies a fine Meg Page. All the other singers improved on their Glasgow performances, but in many ways the star of the show was the set, the costumes, the parade of puppets at the end all creating the magic of theatre. I chatted to one Festival visitor at the end who said it wasn’t her favourite opera, but it had been a superb production and she really enjoyed ‘Falstaff’ for the first time.
Scotland is lucky in that we have the finest and most prolific opera director in the world in David McVicar and this must be recognised as one of his finest. It’s on till Saturday and there some tickets available. It’s then on its way to Santa Fe where it will work well in their open-air opera house. The only sad thing last night is that due to COVID restrictions there were only 400 of us in the audience. We gave the cast a warm ovation at the end, but 2000 would have been much louder. Let’s hope that full houses return soon.
