Review: Don Giovanni, Arcola Theatre

Don Giovanni is normally a good three hours long, but the indefatigable Marcio da Silva, who runs Ensemble OrQuesta, and here is also stage and musical director, has managed to get the running time down to two hours and ten, with an interval. Inevitably, there are cuts, arias shortened, and there is no final sextet tying up loose ends after Don Giovanni is sent screaming into the flames, refusing to repent of his ways, which kind of caught the audience off guard at the end. Consequently, there is no explicit statement of the moral to the story as Mozart intended, but still, Ensemble OrQuesta masterfully takes us on this journey, which includes some of Mozart’s finest music.

The set, of necessity, is pretty basic, but the main directorial conceit is to use black top-half shop-window dummies with glam tops that DG strips off and just hangs on a rail, which, actually, cleverly sums up his attitude to chalking up his conquests. There is no colour in this production, costumes (Gill Jenks) are all in black, so the colour is left to the singers and the musicians – and boy do they deliver, at least for the most part.

Top of the list for me, in terms of sheer Mozartian clarity and perceptive character work, is Anna-Luise Wagner as Zerlina. Her articulation, in every sense of the word, is stunning, and her beauty of tone is a sheer delight. In all her arias, she engages with believability, supported by a technique of faultless calibre. Rosemary Carlton-Willis as Donna Anna was superb, acting and singing-wise – I’ve never felt Don Anna’s real trauma at being raped and losing her father (Il Commendatore) so vividly as in her interpretation. John Twitchen as Don Ottavio, Donna Anna’s intended, who made full use of his one aria “Dalla sua pace”  – “Il mio tesoro intanto” was omitted. He has a confident, bright, clean sound, effortless in his control and colouring, touchingly showing his character’s confusion with his beloved’s attitude – bravo, Sir!  Vedat Dalgiran impressed as Il Commendatore with a fantastic, strong bass, terrifying as the statue comes back to life and precipitating the denouement.

It goes without saying that all the other parts were strongly sung, dealing with the technical challenges that any Mozartian role presents. I have my niggles: Donna Elvira (Helen May) was slightly cartoonish in what should be a much more multi-layered character;  Don Giovanni (Oshri Segev), singing and acting-wise, was just a bit too one-note, you can’t just play “I relish conquering women” – there’s more to this man’s psyche than that. Flavio Lauria’s Leporello needed more consonants and fuller tone to have a greater vocal presence and really get the fun in his singing, not just physicality. 

Last but not least, I want to highlight another star of the evening, namely the conductor Beth Fitzpatrick, who was sensational in giving clear beats to her singers and to her ensemble (a string quartet plus double-bass, bassoon, clarinet and flute)  but above all communicating the various changes in energy and drive and mood. Remember her name – she is a talent to look out for. And a huge bravo to the orchestra, who supported and took centre stage when needed to, over a long evening for them.

All in all, despite my niggles, this was a full-on, memorable evening of sublime music, singing and storytelling. Ensemble OrQuesta have done it again – if you can’t get in this time, book early for next year’s offerings at the Arcola. It is unmissable opera-making!

Stage and Music Director: Marcio da Silva
Conductor: Beth Fitzpatrick
Costumes: Gill Jenks

Don Giovanni plays at The Arcola Theatre as part of the Grimeborn Festival
until Saturday August 30