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Scottish Opera’s 1980s-inflected take on the gender-flipping comedy is cheekily transgressive – and a whole company success
5/5
Born in Lowestoft, living in Aldeburgh, the composer Benjamin Britten was a child of Suffolk and remained forever rooted in the county. Yet he always felt he remained an outsider, and the theme of the individual at odds with the community erupts in his dark 1945 opera Peter Grimes. Its counterpoint is the little comic masterpiece Albert Herring, written two years later, which mines a wealth of humour from a similar opposition. Here the innocent greengrocer’s assistant Albert is seized upon by the worthies of Loxford (a none-too-subtle version of Suffolk’s Yoxford) as the answer to their problem in finding a suitable May Queen, as the girls of the town are all deemed morally suspect. There is something cheekily transgressive for its time in the decision to crown a May King instead, and the docile Albert fits the bill. In Scottish Opera’s new production (which debuted at the Lammermuir Festival last month, and now comes to their home base in Glasgow) the village hall offers “Lose Weight Fast” classes à la Little Britain and is full of 1980s allusions – yet how little has changed! The bossy Lady Billows (the magnificent Susan Bullock) and her busy assistant Florence (an energetic Jane Monari) still rule the roost, ordering around the Vicar Mr Gedge (Francis Church), the Mayor Mr Upfold (Jamie MacDougall), the schoolteacher Miss Wordsworth (a virtuosic Kira Kaplan) and the policeman PC Budd (a blustering Edward Jowle). It is the fun-loving village duo of Sid (Ross Cumming) and Nancy (Chloe Harris) who decide to spike Albert’s drink at his coronation which leads to chaos as he runs off for a wild night on the town to find himself and is presumed dead. Glen Cunningham turns in a brilliantly winsome yet determined Albert, with an inevitable touch of Michael Crawford. His embarrassment at finding himself under the table of Sid and Nancy’s canoodling is just one comic success in Daisy Evans’s update; she has a mixed record in recent opera productions, but this one works. Perhaps Albert’s fussing mother (Christine Sjölander) should not be quite as melodramatic in her grief at her son’s supposed demise – but when he turns up, she is off with PC Budd, and all ends cheerfully.
The makeshift stage in the village hall – by designer Kat Heath – leaves space for an open pit of the 13-player orchestral ensemble, and lets us hear what shining sophistication Britten draws from his use of the solo players under debut conductor William Cole’s crisp direction. A total company success.
Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 22 October; Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, November 13, (Scottishopera.org.uk)
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English