Welsh National Opera's current touring production of The Barber of Seville, directed by Giles Havergal with designs by Russell Craig, presents Rossini's opera in period flavour as if given by a troupe of travelling players in the outdoor setting of a town square.
The cast mill about as the members of the real audience take their seats. Chorus members point into the auditorium and wave excitedly, as if to attract the attention of a friend who has arrived for the show.
And the conceit, which is continued at a low level throughout the opera, allows for an extra layer of activity to be created around the action without too much uncomfortable friction with the plot of the opera proper.
The opera as such is given on a tiered set, with painted curtains identifying Bartolo's house, Rosina's room and Figaro's lair. The clown-primitive make-up of Bartolo and his associates functions rather like laugh-at- me instructions that are flashed up as prompts for TV studio audiences, the rough and tumble which follows working as surely as well-oiled clockwork.
If what you want from Rossini's Barber is a sort of pantomime with music, then this production, which was first seen in 1986, will fit the bill admirably. But there's nothing in Antony Walker's conducting that comes near to capturing the true comic sparkle of Rossini's score.
Walker doesn't consistently manage to impose any serious rhythmic discipline on the singers (using Robert David MacDonald's English translation), so the tongue- twisting patter - of which this opera offers plenty - is neither verbally coherent nor musically sharp.
Donald Maxwell plays the possessive old Bartolo with an experienced hand, inevitably outwitted by the firm and youthfully resourceful Figaro of Mel Ulrich.
Paul Rasmussen's Rosina and Andrew Mackenzie- Wicks's Almaviva make an attractive love-struck couple, both of appealing voice but lacking in finer detailing.
The comic action provides the audience with plenty to laugh at. But, unfortunately, the true spirit of Rossini's music is sadly absent.
By Michael Dervan
Belfast Festival continues until November 11th. Booking from tel: 04890-665577 and at their website: www.belfastfestival.com
