Some people will tell you that Mozart’s Così fan tutte is frivolous, immoral, even misogynistic. Others among us disagree. True, we must be prepared to accept that, in order to test their lovers’ fidelity, two men pretend to go off to war, only to reappear in disguises that the faithless women fail to see through: far-fetched, perhaps, but surely not that hard to swallow.
Nor does the misogyny charge stand up. Although the opera’s title blithely proclaims “That’s just how women are”, no-one, male or female, emerges unscathed from the comic intrigue. In the end, we’re all fools for love. As for emotional nuance, Mozart’s music provides plenty.
Laura Attridge’s new production for English Touring Opera places the action, somewhat arbitrarily, in Alexandria in the Thirties, the location’s light and warmth reflected in the saturated colours of Oliver Townsend’s set. If there is too much knockabout buffoonery from the disguised lovers, the acting overall is restrained, occasionally to the point of reticence. The singing, on the other hand, is often exquisitely expressive: every one of the six-strong cast is fully inside Mozart’s vocal idiom, and the sense of ensemble performance is acute.
It helps that the opera is sung in Jeremy Sams’s wise and witty translation, so that communication is immediate. The voices receive light, breezy support from the period instruments of the Old Street Band, conducted by Holly Mathieson. Moments of deliciously cranky intonation from the wind instruments only add to the atmosphere.
Performance Friday March 6, then touring (englishtouringopera.org.uk)
