OPERA: BAROQUE MASTERPIECES

As the indisputably greatest exponents of the Baroque style, Handel and Purcell are perennial favourites on the opera circuit, second only to the standard romantic repertoire of Verdi, Puccini, Rossini and others of that period.

In this Baroque offering from Opera Australia, both works tell the story of ill-fated lovers, not surprising given the opportunities for musical expression are far greater with a tragic libretto.

Purcell bases his masque on the story of Acis and Galatea, a pastoral set in Arcadia and peopled with nymphs and shepherds, while Handel derives his inspiration from ancient Greek mythology, specifically Virgil’s Aeneid, which tells the sad tale of Dido, Queen of Carthage, and her love for the shipwrecked Trojan refugee, Aeneas.

Director Patrick Nolan, appointed in March of this year as artistic director of the innovative theatre group Legs on the Wall, dispenses with the pastoral setting in Acis and Galatea, substituting the glamour and superficiality of the celebrity party scene. And in terms of the stage design, costumes and choreography, this worked brilliantly, thanks to the collective creative genius of designer Gabriela Tylesova, lighting designer Nigel Levings and choreographer Lucy Guerin.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said of Patrick Nolan’s direction in this piece, where he seemed to so lack confidence in the composer’s score to work its magic that he felt he had to compete with it. The reason? Assuming that today’s audiences would tire of the long repetitive passages typical of the style, Nolan introduces scenes of cocaine sniffing and fellatio which had the audiences laughing out loud (in embarrassment?) at moments certainly not called for by the action on the stage, where the lovelorn Acis is trailing through the party-goers after the beauteous nymph Galatea. Taryn Fiebig was a delightful Galatea, while her adoring lover was sung most plaintively by Henry Choo. Kanen Breen was suitably world weary as the society photographer Damon, while Shane Lowrencev gave an appropriately sleazy and menacing performance as Polyphemus.

By contrast, I could not fault Nolan’s direction of Purcell’s masterpiece Dido and Aeneas. Yvonne Kenny was magnificent as the Queen of Carthage, her lament wringing the emotion from the score, and Luke Gabbedy as Aeneas carried off his role with great dignity and sorrow. Again the stage design and lighting was visually arresting and provided the perfect setting for this heartbreaking score, which the period Orchestra of the Antipodes realised with expressive and subtle tones.

Until July 18, Sydney Opera House, $93-250, 9318 8200 or www.opera-australia.org.au