Opera

Cosi Fan Tutte

Festival Theatre

Callum Booth-Lewis

four stars

ORIGINALLY written as a lighthearted comedy, the classic opera ‘Cosi Fan Tutte’ has been grotesquely warped by Christopher Honoré’s controversial new interpretation.

On one level, this production retains much of the original’s farcical humour; the premise of Don Alfonso’s wager is ridiculous and the double-standard of Fiordiligi and Dorabella’s expected loyalty is heavily emphasised. The archaic language of the libretto adds an extra dimension of humour to a modern audience.

However, the darker side is also immediately obvious. Within minutes, the black members of the chorus are sexually manipulated, establishing the racism and violence of Honoré’s new setting.

By setting the opera in Eritrea, under Mussolini’s occupation, the story’s dark undertones are brought into the spotlight. Themes of discrimination and sexual violence – trivial in most productions – are shown to be incredibly important and are focused on through intense action and the shocking image of the blackface disguise.

The endless violence and racism on their own are shocking, but it is the contrast of this disgusting action with the singer’s talent and the beautiful music from the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra which makes the experience truly unsettling.

This production is uncomfortable and often unpleasant to watch but it is also extremely artful in showing how violence is so easily glossed over with humour and music.

The line “That which makes others weep will make him laugh,” is particularly relevant to this production where comedy and shocking tragedy are bundled together in an incongruous, yet poignant, commentary on oppression and violence.

Opera

Cosi Fan Tutte

Festival Theatre

Meghan Baird

four stars

COSI fan tutte, directed by Christophe Honore, explores the themes of love and infidelity. It is an opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte following the story of two young men wanting to prove their lovers’ faithfulness by disguising themselves and trying to seduce the other’s partner.

Set in 1930s Africa, Honore’s rendition shows the struggles of interracial relationships, the harshness of the time and how everyone had to fit in the social norms. The performance is quite full on but it really gets across the message and gives the opera an authenticity which shows the racism and sexism clearly. The orchestra and singers worked very well together to give the opera human emotion and make the raw ideas explored real.

The first act was effectively directed and performed, the setting and all the characters were used really well, and it was engaging and captured the audience’s attention. It was fabulously set up as in the first act, except at the very start, the themes were very apparent throughout. However the second act was not as well directed although still performed wonderfully by actors and orchestra, it was not as interesting. At some points during the performance what was happening was unclear especially in act two.

Due to the dark nature of the rendition of the opera throughout there were a lot of uncomfortable parts as it was so explicit. Despite this the performers’ acting and singing was amazing and the orchestra was great and well conducted.

Opera

Cosi Fan Tutte

Festival Theatre

Lauren Stone

three stars

"ALL women are unfaithful"

Christophe Honore's interpretation of Cosi fan tutte is a dark and intense rendition of a light, comical rendition of Mozart's well known opera.

Set in Africa in the 1930s, Honore's story follows themes of race, sexual assault and fidelity. The focus on race and the respect white characters get compared to black characters was highlighted and explored strongly as the characters progress on the journey of their fidelity. The use of blackface could offend some viewers but it was used strongly to portray the treatment off the races in that day and age. The scenes of sexual assault were twisted but powerful in setting the scene and giving us an insight to the characters lives and their personalities.

Fidelity and infidelity is the main plot line that is steadily progressed, we see the girls loyalty erode and their feelings for another man grow. Though the story follows the girls fidelity, there is also scenes that have been adapted from the original to show that the men also were not faithful.

The way Honore follows the storyline of this opera is very different and extreme. Lenneke Ruiten and Kate Lindsey (Dorabella and Fiordiligi), were enchanting and mesmerising in all aspects of the opera. Their capability to hold a note and show pure, raw emotion was moving. The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra played without fault and the voices of the male and female characters were soft and breathtakingly beautiful.

Opera

Cosi Fan Tutte

Festival Theatre

Philippa Watson

three stars

BETRAYAL, racism, love, sexism, lust, desperation, comedy. Since its debut in 1790 this ambiguous masterpiece has been portrayed in many contrasting lights, offering copious amounts of leeway to any director willing to revive Mozart's third operatic work. Christophe Honore took this in his stride, creating an exceedingly dark adaption of the classic.

This made for some fantastically dramatic scenes that were unfortunately somewhat undermined by the excessive amount of uncomfortable comedy when addressing serious issues. With an account of rape taking place within the opening five minutes, played out to the wonderfully passionate Freiburger Barockochester orchestra, the juxtaposed sensory intake between what your eyes were seeing and ears were hearing created a unsettling sense of unease within the audience.

The breathtaking power in the performers voices was very becoming to their characters, making even the most corrupt character more sympathetic to some degree, aiding us in understanding the many complex conflicts being entwined. There was no end to their operatic talent.

Limited scenery changes lead to creative use of a relatively simple backdrop, this worked well with the setting of late 1930s Africa and added to the appreciation of props and stage placement. This was particularly effective in the lead up to Fiordiligi, Dorabella and Don Alfonso's moving farewell to Ferrando and Guglielmo who were 'leaving to war'.

In the way of Honore's personal twist, it is perhaps a more hard-hitting revision of its original but I do believe it was well explored, if ever so slightly distastefully executed.

Opera

Cosi Fan Tutte

Festival Theatre

Lauren Watson

three stars

COSI fan tutte directed by Christophe Honore set in Africa during the late 1930s explores love, lust and betrayal, while also focusing on sexism and racism. It tells the story of two brothers Ferrando (Joel Prieto) and Guglielmo (Nahuel di Pierro) who swear their fiancées fidelity whereas Don Alfonso (Rod Gilfry) says they will be unfaithful because most women are. Alfonso lays a wager with the brothers to prove this.

The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra play with precision and passion while Guglielmo violently rapes a black girl. This showing of the double standards. The contrast between Mozart's upbeat music and what was actually happening on stage shows the disregard Guglielmo has towards the women he was raping and how as he was an officer he is able to do as he wants.

Dorabella and Fiordiligi and talking about the physical merits of their fiancées when Alfonso comes bearing the bad news that their lovers are being called away to war. With the help of Despina, the sisters servant, Alfonso introduces two African mercenaries, who are just the two brothers in disguise. Despina is a very strong minded individual who doesn't do anything she doesn't want to.

In act 2 the sisters fall for the Africans, breaking the brothers hearts, even though they ended up cheating with the other sister showing the inequality between the sexes. Overall the performers were marvellous, even at times when it was somewhat uncomfortable to watch. The issue of racism is slightly distasteful but overall enjoyable.

Opera

Cosi Fan Tutte

Festival Theatre

Eva Baikie

four stars

DIRECTOR Christopher Honore explores the themes of love and infidelity in Cosi fan tutte, the third opera written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a libretto by Lorenzo de Ponte. This libretto brings together the story of two friends, Guglielmo and Ferrando of whom were engaged to two sisters, Fiordiligi and Dorabella.

Set in Africa, late 1930's, the philosopher Don Alfonso stirs trouble by persuading these young men that all women are unfaithful, in a reaction of disgust, the men defend their fiancées by explaining that they are most faithful of women. To put this dispute at rest, the men engage in an experiment that gives Don Alfonso the chance to show that infidelity is inevitable and that "all women are like that" - cosi fan tutte.

Honoré successfully managed to capture the passionate relationship between these two couples, the audience waits in an atmosphere of anticipation to discover the true nature of these women, who end up proving Don Alfonso right. Although these performers were filled with talent, their constant ethos fluctuated after returning to the second act. Despite this, the way these performers told such a controversial yet moving tragedy was memorising to witness.

The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, conducted by Jeremie Rhorer, performs with such high standards that the opera itself would not have been so outstanding without it. Cosi fan tutte succeeded to grasp my attention and evokes the themes of love and infidelity so astonishingly well that I felt a connection with this opera and the performers within.

Opera

Cosi Fan Tutte

Festival Theatre

Rory Martin

three stars

OF all the different theatrical works that could be given an edgy, controversial remake, Mozart's comedic third opera Cosi fan tutte is perhaps not the first thing that springs to mind. True, the entirety of the plot is based on a blatantly sexist double standard, but this could presumably be excused by the standards of society at the time the piece was penned.

Nevertheless director Christophe Honore, apparently not content with merely offending the female portion of the audience, has decided to throw in some serious racial discrimination by setting this retelling in Mussolini-occupied Africa. The result makes for an interesting operatic experience.

Even before the singing begins, we witness one of the male leads completely violating an anonymous black character from the chorus. This racial behaviour is carried through into the opening sing-song, with both male leads praising the fidelity of their fiancées whilst simultaneously abusing the majority of female chorus members.

This underlying thread of white supremacy is followed throughout the three hour runtime, and does well to reflect the horrific societal situation in 1930s Eritrea, but this dark undertone becomes confused during the more humorous scenes. The fake suicide segment where the Guglielmo and Ferrando pretend to swallow arsenic pills is surprisingly hilarious, but when the character who is pulling the prank was full on raping a defenceless slave girl in the previous scene one can't help but feel that the audiences laughter is a little tasteless and misplaced. But I really liked the music.

Opera

Cosi Fan Tutte

Festival Theatre

Dominic Pitts

four stars

COSI fan tutte, directed by Christophe Honore and originally written by Mozart. Honore's adaption of Mozart's classic is a must see for fans of dark comedies, though not necessarily for the faint hearted, the Opera is enjoyable to watch even if it had some uncomfortable moments. This adaption of the 18th century Opera snuggly fits in its 1930s setting with many of the original conflicts effectively translating into this tumultuous time period. However though the sex based conflicts Mozart's original was famous for still shine through, they are partially over shadowed by updated conflicts regarding race. Unfortunately I believe that this left both struggles lacking with neither being fully explored.

On the other hand Jeremie Rhorer's beautiful conduction of the Freiburg Baroque orchestra is emotive and awe inspiring, this orchestra does musical justice the Mozart's original masterpiece. To see this orchestra is reason enough to see this performance, pulling a slightly erratic experience into a truly enjoyable one. The music works particularly well with Sandrine Piau's (Despina) performance creating a vigorously emotional act. In actuality the performances from all the cast were truly mind blowing especially in regards to Nahuel di Pierro's performance as Guglielmo which was horrifying yet enthralling leaving the audience fascinatingly uncomfortable.

Giving the director the benefit of the doubt the purposeful jarring of mood created real tension not only on stage but within the audience as well, this created a thought provoking and thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Opera

Cosi Fan Tutte

Festival Theatre

Rosie Paterson

four stars

ALTHOUGH racism and sexism aren't frequently paired with classic opera, Christophe Honore's production of Cosi fan tutte deals with these themes boldly and unapologetically. Set in Italian occupied Eritrea, the inherent discrimination in this setting is explored through clever staging and explicit violence. These dark themes run throughout both acts, and although the issues are cleverly explored, the horror which is displayed on stage often clashes with the bubbly music that accompanies it, creating a forced feeling to parts of the show, and a desire for the occasional silliness appropriate to Mozart's work.

Musically, this production is a spectacle. The large ensemble and the very strong main performers, along with the wonderful Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, created a fantastic musical experience. Dorabella (played by Kate Lindsey) oozed an inherent level of sass throughout, which despite this attitude not being appropriate and at times taking away from some more emotional scenes, furthers the characters vivacious and promiscuous personality. Despina (Sandrine Piau) is clearly portrayed in all of her wiseness and overall positivity, making her sometimes fickle character a likeable and important part of the show.

Fiordiligi (Lenneke Ruiten) despite being played with phenomenal talent and passion, was inconsistent between the two acts due to the way the show was set and directed to deal with the the issues it does.

Despite this show being difficult to watch and distasteful at times. We are clearly shown that humour and pleasure can be prevalent through anything and that humans are all very fickle things.

Opera

Cosi Fan Tutte

Festival Theatre

Rosie MacArthur

three stars

BY incorporating multiple themes that are still very much relevant today such as gender, race and domestic abuse director Christopher Honore injects an fresh take on Mozart's masterpiece, Cosi fan tutte.

Set in Eritrea during the late 1930's, soldiers Ferrando and Guglielmo set out to test their fiancees faithfulness with the help of the cynical Don Alfonso, who has little trust in women and their fidelity. The men are summoned to war, leaving the women, Fiordiligi and Dorabella left distraught and inconsolable with their maid Despina, who happens to also in on the bet. The men return disguised as two Dubats and try to seduce the sisters. The sisters reject the advances and the men start to celebrate their sweet victory, that their fiancées are loyal. However, Don Alfonso insists that the men must be patient, follow his orders and continue with the experiment.

Dorabella and Fiordiligi choose their suitors, funnily enough each picks the others partner. Dorabella seems to become more comfortable with Guglielmo than Fiordiligi does with Ferrando. In the end, both women come round to the men and the shocked men conclude that 'All women behave like this!'. The joint wedding arrives on the same day that the fiancées arrive home and panic strikes. The newly wed husbands rush away to 'hide' and in returns the soldiers expecting a hero’s welcome but getting far from it.

With racial tension and male dominance being the key themes the opera revolves around, this take on Mozart's Opera is very full on and not for the faint hearted.

Opera

Cosi Fan Tutte

Festival Theatre

Jessie Hardie

three stars

THIS retelling of Cosi fan tutte directed by Christophe Honoré set in 1930's Italian occupied aEritrea, added a whole new dimension to Mozarts timeless classic.

The contrast of the cheerful music with the violent acts in the first scene perpetuated by Guglielmo (Nahuel di Piero) set the opera up straight away to be darker than originally written. The aspect of race overlapped and enhanced the all ready difficult themes of sexism and classism. It is a rarity that such a classic can have a new theme added, caused by the changing of setting, racism gave the opera a new raw twist.

Although black face is controversial, and in most cases outright racist, the use of it in this production cleverly showed how much race was a factor in the way people are treated. The setting and characterisation in the first act was strong however it was not continued to the end.

Fiordiligi played by Lenneke Ruiten, although with an outstanding voice, talent for acting and portraying a storyline, the interpretation given was inconsistent and her character fluctuated between the first and second half. Despina was strong constantly in both character and voice, Sandrine Piau perfectly portrayed this multi layered character.

Overall this opera was cleverly set and the orchestra was outstanding, led by the fabulous conductor Jérémie Rhorer. This opera evoked deep emotion and gave the audience an enhanced understanding of difficult themes.