Friendly overtures: Rosemary Waugh writes on her confidence-boosting one-to-one therapy session from an opera singer.
Opera
27 April 2018
Reviews • Opera • Reviews
Review: 4.48 Psychosis at the Lyric Hammersmith
April 23 - May 4
By Sally Hales
A beautiful, polyphonic cacophany: Philip Venables’ contemporary opera is an astonishing adaptation of Sarah Kane’s play.
18 April 2018
Reviews • Opera • Reviews
Review: The Marriage of Figaro at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin
April 17 - April 21
By Chris McCormack
Losing steam: Irish National Opera’s first production runs out of ideas and invention.
11 October 2017
Reviews • Opera • Reviews
Review: Hansel and Gretel at the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood
September 21 - November 19
By Hailey Bachrach
“Nailed it”: Hayley Bachrach overcomes her fear of the form at Pop-Up Opera’s accessible production of Englebert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel.
18 July 2017
Reviews • Opera • Reviews
Review: Kát’a Kabanová at Opera Holland Park
July 15 - July 28
By Daniel Perks
“Poetically conceived and beautifully realised”: Daniel Perks admires the beauty and brevity of Leoš Janáček classic opera in Olivia Fuchs’ staging for Opera Holland Park.
5 May 2017
Reviews • Opera • Reviews
Review: The Exterminating Angel at the Royal Opera House
April 24 - May 8
By Maddy Costa
An experience of great satisfaction: Maddy Costa reviews Thomas Adès opera adaptation of Luis Buñuel’s 1962 surrealist film.
13 June 2016
Reviews • Opera
Review: Tristan and Isolde at the Coliseum
London Coliseum ⋄ 15th June - 9th July 2016
By Andrew Haydon
“A cartoon samurai from the 80s, inexplicably crossed with a teletubby”: Andrew Haydon reviews the ENO’s staging of Wagner that is somewhat marred by costume and set design choices.
4 April 2016
Reviews • Opera
Review: The Importance of Being Earnest at the Barbican
Barbican Theatre ⋄ 29th March - 3rd April 2016
By Maddy Costa
“There is a violence at the heart of this opera,” Maddy Costa reviews The Importance of Being Earnest, directed by Ramin Gray.
8 March 2016
Reviews • Opera • Reviews
Review: Akhnaten at ENO
London Coliseum ⋄ 8th - 18th March 2016
By Amelia Forsbrook
Amelia Forsbrook discovers a religious revolutionary with a choir boy’s sweetness.
22 February 2016
Reviews • Opera • Reviews
Review: Norma at the London Coliseum
London Coliseum ⋄ 24th February - 11th March 2016
By Amelia Forsbrook
Sapphic skirt pawing and neat duets make the women the stars of this ENO performance.
3 February 2016
Reviews • London Theatre • Opera • Reviews
Review: Found and Lost at Corinthia Hotel
25th January - 3rd February
By Tim Bano
“Is this some kind of cult?” Tim Bano encounters an intriguing promenade opera by Emily Hall, set in the corridors of London’s Corinthia Hotel.
12 May 2015
Reviews • Opera
The Pirates of Penzance
London Coliseum ⋄ 9th May - 4th July 2015
By Tim Bano
A review in verse.
15 April 2015
Reviews • Opera
Between Worlds
Barbican Theatre ⋄
By Tom Wicker
An excess of tragic irony.
12 April 2015
Reviews • Opera
WNO Spring 2015
Bristol Hippodrome ⋄ 8th - 11th April 2015
By Rosemary Waugh
The brothers Grimm in bowler hats.
24 February 2015
Reviews • Opera
The Mastersingers of Nuremberg
London Coliseum ⋄ 7th February - 10th March 2015
By Maddy Costa
To be cradled at the heart of life’s contradictions.