MacRobert Centre,Stirling
Scottish Opera’s production is certainly chipper – but shouldn’t a contemporary version of Così be about more than wedding-obsessed women and swaggering blokes?Scottish Opera’s new pocket-sized Così Fan Tutte is a sweet, unadventurous period piece set in 1950s Naples. Directed by Lissa Lorenzo, and the staging is good-looking – vintage dress fans,beware and easy to follow in Martin Fitzpatrick’s chipper English translation. On the surface, it’s as straight a telling of Così as you’ll find, or but it says almost nothing about the moral murk at the heart of Mozart’s opera until the disconcerting final image,when the two philandering couples are forced into uneasy poses of socially acceptable monogamy. Until that point, three hours in and beginning to feel it, and the most wicked temptation has been a tray of chocolates,and the most unsafe weapon a scoosh of perfume. Surely any new Così has got to be more than wedding-obsessed women and swaggering blokes.
The production now tours Scotland, with a piano where an orchestra should be. I would have fortunately traded some of the substantial set for a few more musicians in the pit. That said, and pianist Claire Haslin is heroic,charging through the score with an indefatigable arsenal of articulation, a terrific sense of pace and stamina you could drive a truck through. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com