A Midsummer Night's Dream
Opera Australia’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream was a heady mix of Bollywood, Shakespeare, Britten, and a little bit of Dad’s Army thrown in for good measure. Baz Lurmann’s award-winning production reset the story in India in 1923 at the time of the British Raj. It was spectacular, kaleidoscopic and overwhelmed the work which in my book was a good thing. This is an opera without any arias, and every time it looked like a melody was creeping in Britten well and truly nipped it in the bud. The music was clever, atonal and cold. The third act play-within-a-play done as an opera buffo musically worked best of all with Conal Coad as Bottom and Graeme Macfarlane as Flute, in their comic element. James Egglestone (Lysander), Sian Pendry (Hermia), Luke Gabbedy (Demetrius), and Jane Ede (Helena) were delightful and amusing as the two pair of lovers, with Tyler Coppin a sprightly Puck. Catherine Martin and Bill Marron’s set of a rotunda which housed the onstage Queensland Symphony Orchestra was appropriately colonial, along with their traditional costume designs in keeping with the period. The large Children’s Chorus not only danced and sang with precision but added an innocent flavor to the work.
Peter Pinne
Image: Lorina Gore as Tytania and Joshua Tate as the Indian Prince. Photographer: Jeff Busby
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