By: Su Carroll
Adele Thomas’s layered version of one of Verdi’s finest operas has a cinematic edge that entrances you from the opening scene when two half-naked men fight on a pool table in a slow-motion sequence worthy of Martin Scorcese’s Raging Bull.
The director has a bold vision of how a ground-breaking opera when first performed in Venice in 1851, can grab the attention of a modern audience. We first meet The Fool Rigoletto (Daniel Luis De Vicente) and his master, The Duke (Raffaele Abete), at what is described in programme notes as a party but is – judging by the scantily clad, writhing bodies and drunken behaviour – an orgy. At the heart of it all is The Duke who is certainly looking for Miss Right Now rather than Miss Right.
Rigoletto is a spectre at the feast rather than a participant. After all, he has his own daughter at home, hidden from view, and you get a sense that he doesn’t wholeheartedly approve of his boss’s behaviour.
When Count Monterone (Paul Carey Jones) arrives, demanding the return of his daughter he discovers that she has been seduced and corrupted by The Duke and curses the man who mocks him (rather than the culprit) – Rigoletto.
A strange figure, Sparafucile (Nathanael Tavernier), appears and offers his services to Rigoletto. For an agreed sum of money Sparafucile would act as an assassin, should the need arise. An anxious Rigoletto returns home to daughter Gilda (Soraya Mafi) and there is a moment of tender affection between them before Rigoletto leaves hurriedly. Enter The Duke, intent on seducing his second innocent young girl of the night, by posing as a poor student and the man Gilda has seen in church.
The Duke’s courtiers believe that Gilda is actually Rigoletto’s mistress and plan to kidnap her. A desperate search for her reveals her to be his daughter. Rigoletto wants revenge, The Duke wants to seduce Gilda, or any other attractive woman in his path. The die is cast. This isn’t going to end well.
I’ve never seen a better use of a chorus – one minute they are the licentious mob at the court, the next they are the masked kidnappers tiptoeing through the dark. At times they appear through windows above the stage wearing their Jacobean neck ruffs and bright jackets watching the action unfold below.
Credit where it’s due for lighting (Guy Hoare), design (Annemarie Woods) and the magnificent WNO orchestra conducted by Teresa Riveiro Böhm. All the elements make this a triumph.
Director Adele Thomas joins WNO soon to share the role of General Director and CEO with Creative Producer Sarah Crabtree. It sounds like a formidable partnership which will produce a happy ending, unlike the fate or Rigoletto.