Theatre / Reviews
Review: Carmen, Bristol Hippodrome
Picture: Jeni Clegg
It would be wrong to describe Don José in Welsh National Opera’s Carmen as a mummy’s boy – he is, after all, a soldier – but the first scene of Bizet’s opera is an exercise in repression.
What little love is expressed between José and his village sweetheart Micaëla is entirely expressed vicariously through his mother. Micaëla kisses him for his mother, he kisses her for his mother. A letter from his mother instructs Don José to marry Micaëla. They’re as wet as each other, and both deserve what they get.
It’s a rather boring start to a whirlwind of a narrative, but it serves to set up the inevitable disaster of Don José’s meeting with Carmen – who is Micaëla’s opposite in every way. Carmen is bad, dangerous but absolutely captivating, rather than good but deadly dull (it’s a good job that Jessica Muirhead sings Micaëla so beautifully).
Both leads are splendid. Alessandra Volpe plays Carmen as a wild and defiant gypsy, smouldering with sex, seemingly keen to hasten her own tragic end, while Peter Wedd’s Don José hovers on the line between doomed lover and hopelessly deluded loser, ending up just on the right side.
The original directors of Bizet’s opera, Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser, used backdrops inspired by Goya to evoke the heat and passion of 19th-century Spain. You expect bullfights, bold colour and more from this revival directed by Caroline Chaney – but sadly that’s not what you get.
WNO’s Seville tobacco factory is a drab, grey place whose girls look exhausted rather than bright and flirtatious. Kostas Smoriginas gives the role of Escamillo the bullfighter everything he’s got (and of course he does have the best song of the night, the famous Toreador Song) but, while dashingly cut, even his costume is a study in brown.
This is to forget, though, that Carmen contains some of the most glorious music ever written. Despite some niggles, Bizet’s masterpiece remains wonderfully enjoyable.
Welsh National Opera’s Carmen is at Bristol Hippodrome on Wednesday 12 & Thursday 13 November, followed by Moses in Egypt (Friday 14 November) and William Tell (Saturday 15 November). For more information and to book tickets, visit http://www.atgtickets.com/venues/bristol-hippodrome/#performance_tabs=tab_calendar
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