Reviews
THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO

Energetic, light-hearted production

Tessa Bremner has directed an energetic, light-hearted Marriage of Figaro for this youthful, innovative company.

With a simple, functional set, stylised plastic hair pieces and 10th century costumes decorated with see-through plastic to highlight the transparency of the period, our attention was focused on the characters and the music.

Highlighting the reference to commedia dell'arte in Mozart's opera, Bremner has created the minor character in the 'commedia dell'arte style. This resulted in some very amusing performances from Don Basilio (Philip Craig), Marcellina (Robert England), Dr Bartolo (Robert England) and Antonio (Kenneth Marshall).

Jillian Chatterton captured the pensiveness of Countess Almaviva, while Teresa La Rocca created a sweet, generous Susanna. Both sang with a clear, pure tone, performing some lovely arias, However, in the ensembles the women's voices tended to be swallowed by the large, airy hall.

The men fared better, both in projection and articulation, with Grant Doyle playing a sincere and self-assured Figaro and David Perry a dishonest, weak-willed Count.

Catriona Barr as Cherubino sang elegantly, highlighting the page-boy's cheekiness.

The musical director Brian Chatterton, led the chamber orchestra sensitively, and generally the rapport was good between singers and orchestra.

Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro has a plethorn of duets, quartets, septets and larger ensembles and these were delightfully sung, bringing out the confusion and the comic element of the drama.

With effective lighting and snappy pacing this was an entertaining evening.

Margaret Legge-Wilkinson, Canberra Times, 8 July 1997.

Marrying music and elegance

Co-Opera's familiar theatrical daring carries it through the plots and counterplots that lead up to The Marriage of Figaro with color and style. The interlocking sets of lovers are lightly sketched and very well sung.

Grant Doyle's forthright Figaro, sung with vigor and example-setting diction, is well paired with the pert Teresa La Rocca as Susanna.

Jillian Chatterton provides a poised and elegant Countess to the well-sung but dramatically lacklustre Count of David Perry and the boyish bravado of Cate Barr's spunky Cherubino and her vivacious Barbarina, sung with great charm by Belinda Patterson.

Director Tessa Bremner has emphasised the commedia quality of the supporting cast of grotesque as a foil for the more human foibles of the central cast.

Robert England's portly Bartolo is matched by the ample Marcellina of the extravagantly dressed Barbara Rennison, the Scots gardener/lawyer of Kenneth Marshall and the low, camp Don Basilio of Philip Craig.

These are the people who need to work harder at projecting words into the Town Hall's varying spaces. This production, thanks to the company's first government grant, had a small instrumental ensemble. A few more strings would add lustre to the sound but the eloquent oboe and clarinet playing were delightful.

The cut-down orchestration weakens the impact of the Mozart's music but allows the cast and the audience at least to hear a more sumptuous sound than any piano could provide.

Conductor Brian Chatterton's intelligent pacing and well-communicated intentions hold everything with almost psychic skill.

Designers Sylvana Angelakis and Joel Beclu have splashed out in their designs for production and lighting respectively. The cast sports elaborate wigs and costumes with cellophane details and delicious surreal touches.

The opera has been edited slightly and does require more vocal and dramatic commitment than is mustered on this platform, and more emotional depth than perhaps is fair to expect from a young cast. Other performances of this opera will be in less elaborate venues but this show has music and elegance enough for anywhere.

Ewart Shaw, The Adelaide Advertiser, Thursday 24 April 1997.

Airing out Mozart

The fashion for outdoor wedding has finally reached Mozart, with a graceful staging of the Marriage of Figaro in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. Co-Opera claims that this is the first fully-mounted production of an opera in the open air in Adelaide. As an experiment and an experience, it was an almost unalloyed pleasure, carrying the audience back to a world without motorcars.

Transported to the lawn outside the Museum of Ecomic Botany, the translucent set and Silvana Angelakis's witty costumes took on added beauty.

The production, by Tessa Bremner, adapted well to the outdoor setting and the body microphones enabled an almost perfect projection of the singers' voices. The orchestra was less fortunate in this respect with Brian Chatterton's continuo playing much louder than the small ensemble of wind and strings. The production has been in the repertoire for a couple of years and the case has grown in dramatic confidence. The women of the cast shine particularly brightly. Imogen Roose, new to the role, is a sparkling Susanna, matching Jillian Chatterton's Countess with exquisite singing, Michelle Grooenboer's Cherubino, Barbara Rennison's well seasoned Marcellina and Belinda Patterson's Barbarina are clearly defined and projected. David Thelander, the new Figaro, moves easily into the role and David Perry's Count has developed a physical style to match his vocal strengths. The three supporting male roles, the low camp Basilio of Philip Craig, the portly Bartolo of Robert England and the hilarious Scots gardener Kenneth Marshall keep the action flowing. As we left the gardens, we saw a real wedding being celebrated. Let us hope that wedding is as successful as the Co-Opera version.

Ewart Shaw, The Adelaide Advertiser, Monday 12 April 1999.

Crowd of 100 seize theatre opportunity
Opera is applauded

The Tasmanian Arts Council - Co-Opera S. Aus. Provided the East Coast with another operatic gem.

The Marriage of Figaro, at the St Helens Memorial Hall on March 24, enticed a crowed of more than 100 people.

This sort of support highlights the excellence of these scaled-down productions, presented in the round (let's hear it for the Romans) thus taking full advantage of the acoustic qualities of our local facility.

In 1998, Madam Butterfly, lovely as it was, merely whetted the appetites for this delight.

The cast of 10 contained not one passenger, and if there was critic assigned to each character, I am certain that at the conclusion a decadon of score-cards would be raised, each displaying an enthusiastic 10.

David Thelander gave Figaro all the dignity, cunning and mischief that his role demanded, while Susanna (Imogen Roose) Cherubino (Michelle Grootenboor) and Countess Rosina (Jillian Chatterton) made us wish to be Marty Feldman than we might catch all their lovely facial expressions simultaneously.

The Count (David Perry) played his part as Lecherous Maximus to the hilt.

Space does not permit a complete run-down, but individually and collectively vocal renditions were marvellous.

The harmonies in duets and ensemble would have brought tears of ecstasy to the eyes of a plaster gnome, and musical director Brian Chatterton was at his brilliant best, moseying from piano to keyboard with all to nonchalance of Robert Mitcham.

Looking for someone better to play this demanding and frighteningly busy score would be like looking for a replacement musical for James Morrison.

Add the fully effective lighting, simple, almost satirical settings and props, and superb stage management, and we have yet another magnificent musical triumph from the play by Beaumarchais, scored by Mozart and DaPonte.

A perfect night of beautiful singing.

Next year - La Traviata.

Don Ives, Examiner, Tuesday 30 March 1999.

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