Mischievous knockabout opera set in Wexford’s Italian community is a riot of fun

Gianni Schicchi at The Grain Store, Wexford until November 4

Conor Prendiville and Federica Raja in Giacomo Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. Photo by Padraig Grant

Katy Hayes

This promenade production of a Giacomo Puccini one-act comedy is a riot of fun. The Wexford Factory, the talent development wing of Wexford Festival Opera, led workshops with locals over the year to prepare; this mischievous knockabout opera is an excellent result, as it benefits significantly from the extra numbers of grasping relatives.

The original libretto by Giovacchino Forzano is inspired by an incident in Dante’s Divine Comedy; here it is updated by Timothy Knapman, set amongst the Wexford Italian community. Buoso, the family patriarch, has just died and the extended cousins and nephews are all expecting to be left some of his vast fortune.