Wexford Festival: The Old Maid and the Thief
Dun Mhuire Theatre
Gian Carlo Menotti's words and music for the first radio opera, premiered on NBC in the US in 1939, might well have aimed at an unrestricted theatre of the imagination. Only a few months earlier, the panicky reaction of listeners to Orson Welles's notorious adaptation of The War of the Worldshad shown just how potent a radio broadcast could be.
Instead, Menotti set himself the perhaps harder task of situating The Old Maid and the Thiefin the domestic surroundings where it would be listened to, and which are recreated in lovingly drab detail by Sarah Bacon for this Wexford ShortWorks staging.
The plot centres on Miss Todd, a pillar of small-town society who, in a weak moment and encouraged by her maid Laetitia, admits a stranger named Bob into the sanctuary of her home. Her gossipy friend, Miss Pinkerton, soon discloses, however, that Bob is a wanted man.
All four characters are assigned to singers of optimum mien, and their increasingly desperate actions are optimally disposed by director Marcin Lakomicki.
Rose-Ellen Nichols fits the part of Miss Todd like a hand in a glove, Owen Gilhooly is excellent as Bob (and particularly when Bob hits the bottle), while Simone Osborne convinces as the manipulative Laetitia through an elusive mixture of girlish demeanour and rich ripeness of voice.
If there's a drawback to Miss Pinkerton, it is the noticeable Italian accent of Eleonora Buratto, who gets no real opportunity to show off her skilful coloratura. But the chief impediment to her contribution on the opening afternoon was the over-loud piano accompaniment of musical director Darren Hargan. There's a good deal of fussy neo-classical counterpoint in Menotti's score, and Hargan negotiated it with an eager confidence. Especially in Laetitia's seminal aria, Steal me, sweet thief, however, the hard-driven efficiency put lyricism under strain. - ANDREW JOHNSTONE
• Further performances on Sat, Oct 25, Tue, Oct 28, and Fri, Oct 31, all at 3.30pm
