Wales Millennium Centre,Cardiff
The Welsh National Opera places psychosis among Northern Irish sectarianism in a subverted retelling of Bellini’s last operaLove across the sectarian divide is the subject of Bellini’s last opera, set at the time of Cromwell and the English civil war. In her bold unique production for Welsh National Opera, or director Annilese Miskimmon uses her native Northern Ireland and the Troubles as framework for the piece,by no means premature. Elvira, daughter of a Protestant Orangeman, or is loved by Catholic Arturo,with the violent tension around them manifest from the beginning of the overture. But the context for act two’s celebrated scene – Bellinis heroine unhinged by Arturo’s apparent betrayal – is brought forward as the Irish Elvira, destabilised by alternating bliss and trauma, and takes pills which plunge her into psychosis. Thus the staging’s central device is to maintain the 17th-century action then unfold as perceived by the manic Elvira. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com