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The Guardian
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Le Nozze di Figaro review – astute period staging of Mozart's masterpiece is as poignant as it is funny
When Glyndebourne opened its doors in 1934, it did so with The Marriage of Figaro, the first in a fabled line of productions of Mozart's comic masterpiece to grace its stages over the last 90 years. If the director Mariame Clément felt any pressure, it didn't show. Hers is a nuanced staging that manages to be astute, funny and moving all at once. It's also extremely well sung. The opera is about many things, but a great deal hinges on the ancient concept of droit de seigneur, a barbaric medieval custom whereby a feudal lord was entitled to have sex with a female servant on her wedding night. Mozart's Count, we learn, has made a show of ending the tradition, though he still hopes to bed the feisty Susanna, maidservant to his estranged Countess. Clément sets the show in its original period, allowing its parallels to resonate across the centuries with today's audiences, and so they do. There is a powerful interrogation of character here: the determination and resourcefulness of Susanna, the aching loneliness of the Countess, and the testosterone-fuelled antagonism that develops between the Count and his increasingly implacable manservant, Figaro. Revolutionary feelings erupt at several points. Whether or not he prevails in his immediate sexual depredations, the Count's days are plainly numbered. He might join in the final outburst of bonhomie, but as a predator his career is in tatters. Clément is clearly blessed with funny bones, as are most of her singers. At the opening of Act III, we hear the Count's voice, seemingly from off stage. Moments later, as a wriggling foot emerges over its rim, we realise he was submerged in the bathtub all along. The fistfuls of documents concealed under Marcelina's voluminous skirts, the rogue's gallery of doddery old men, and a hastily improvised game of rock paper scissors all receive well-earned laughs. Julia Hansen's rotating sets are a marvel, presenting a labyrinthine succession of pastel-painted rooms, corridors and gardens. Equally eye-catching are her vibrant costumes and Paule Constable's atmospheric lighting, which never fails to pick out a face. Riccardo Minasi drives the score hard, though his flexible beat is always alert to the drama. The playing of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment is exhilarating, though balance is sometimes an issue. The cast is led by Johanna Wallroth's sparky Susanna and Louise Alder's radiant Countess. The latter delivers an immaculate account of Porgi amor and a poignantly staged Dove sono. Michael Nagl is an appealingly bumptious Figaro, Huw Montague Rendall a preening, raptor-like Count, and Adèle Charvet engaging and entirely convincing as the reluctantly cross-dressed Cherubino. As Bartolo and Marcelina, Alessandro Corbelli and Madeleine Shaw are surprisingly tender in the paternity scene, another of Clément's many thoughtful touches. At Glyndebourne until 21 August
Times
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Le nozze di Figaro review — raw emotional power from a top-notch cast
We are told The Marriage of Figaro has been performed 588 times at Glyndebourne. My memories don't quite go back to 1934, but I cannot recall seeing any Figaro here with as much detail — either in depicting the upstairs-downstairs bustle of an 18th-century aristocrat's home or in the grippingly nuanced acting — that Mariame Clément obtains in this new staging. Part of that is down to immaculate historical research. The set's wall paintings and the costumes, whether for gentry or yokels, are derived from the pastel-shaded landscapes of Louis Carrogis Carmontelle (an apt inspiration, as he painted a famous portrait of the boy Mozart), with a nod to Fragonard's The Swing in the final act. And Julia Hansen's sets continually revolve to reveal everything from boudoirs to boot rooms, with handfuls of household servants constantly popping up. • Read more classical reviews, guides and interviews Of course a revolving stage is always a hostage to fortune. This one broke down for 20 minutes before Act IV — a hiatus just long enough to cause many of the first-night audience to miss the last London train. It also slightly dissipated the raw emotional power that Clément coaxes from an excellent cast as they brutally expose the fissures tearing apart the marriage of Huw Montague Rendall's vicious, caddish Count and Louise Alder's clearly terrified Countess. And brutal is the word. Their blazing Act II row must be hard to watch for anyone in the audience who has experienced domestic violence. It's all the more effective because Alder, who sings sumptuously throughout, never misses a note — even with Rendall wringing her neck. And though there's plenty of ripe comedy elsewhere, that scene has an ominous impact that cascades through to the end, which is far from feel-good. Elsewhere, too, there is fine singing and vivid characterisation. Michael Nagl's Figaro is a lumbering giant, big in voice and heart but perhaps not in brain, constantly needing prodding from Johanna Wallroth's delightfully animated Susanna. Another Glyndebourne newcomer, the French mezzo Adèle Charvet sings Cherubino with a notably sonorous tone. And the seasoned Alessandro Corbelli and Madeleine Shaw milk plenty of laughs as Bartolo and Marcellina. About the conducting I have more reservations. Riccardo Minasi certainly puts a sophisticated stamp on every bar, and the period instruments of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment do many beautiful things. But the basic tempos are often a notch too slow, then bizarrely slowed further for dramatic emphasis. Sometimes a conductor needs to get out of the way and let Mozart's miraculous score do its work.★★★★☆290min (includes dinner interval) To Aug 21, @timesculture to read the latest reviews
