Welsh National Opera’s autumn season marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death with a trio of Bard-inspired operas.
They sing in Italian, but WNO don’t use Verdi’s title Macbetto, as though thespian superstition demanding reference to “the Scottish play” did not extend to the operatic version. The bad luck is that the company has taken on the ill-conceived production originally staged in 2014 by Northern Ireland Opera; the good fortune is that the crass and sometimes gruesome updating is counterbalanced by considerable musical virtues, with the characters of Macbeth and his Lady, together with the chorus of witches whom Verdi regarded as the third protagonist, all strongly portrayed.
Director Oliver Mears’s take feels like a transposition of the Troubles to Caledonia, though video footage accompanying the Act IV chorus Patria Oppressa has heart-rending scenes invoking all too tragic theatres of war. Lady Macbeth gets enough fur jackets for Elena Ceausescu and shoes for Imelda Marcos, but, required to veer between her coldly calculated strategising of the serial murders and a highly sexualised persona, soprano Mary Elizabeth Williams conveys best the nakedly demoniac core that manipulates her weaker husband. In the title role, Luis Cansino may be diminished by the sheer force of Williams’s vocal and physical presence, but his baritone has a Verdian nobility of line. Miklós Sebestyén’s Banquo and Bruce Sledge’s Macduff also make their mark, with the chorus and orchestra unstinting in their response to Andriy Yurkevych’s fiery conducting.
- At Wales Millennium Centre until 24 September. Box office: 029-2063 6464. Then touring.
