Last Updated on February 23, 2025
The Rake’s Return
This fourth revival of Kasper Holten’s 2014 production of Don Giovanni brought back to life by Revival Director Greg Eldridge casts us deep into the amoral, guiltless world of the eponymous arch seducer. A man whose power and self-belief catalyses the weakness and hypocrisy of others and for whom amorous conquests and the subsequent adventures that emerge are the only game in town even if they involve rape and murder.
Mozart’s masterpiece with its libretto by Da Ponte was first staged at the Prague Italian opera in October 1787 and since that time each generation has reinvented their own version of Don Juan in literature, theatre, opera and film, trying to grapple with the tension between Christian morality and the realities of human behaviour and the balance between comedy and drama that the character affords us.
In our contemporary #metoo era, there is a temptation to present the protagonist as a Harvey Weinstein style abuser or as a Tinder-driven sex addict, ghosting as he keeps swiping and with no redeeming features. But instead, Kasper Holten chooses to take us on an existentialist deep dive inside Don Giovanni’s psyche. The narrative and characters are framed within Es Devlin’s imposing and cleverly designed set, a building that spins around on its axis revealing a frontage and then its inner skeleton. The building represents Don Giovanni’s world and allows the various couples and couplings to be presented in a way that retains narrative clarity in what is often a tangled web of amorous intrigue. The Don and his manservant Leporello slip through hidden doorways and back staircases as they navigate the treacherous terrain of furious jilted lovers and their revengeful jealous partners.
Overlaid on the building are spectacular and symbolic video projections by Luke Halls. These are mapped using advanced projection techniques to great effect. The opening scene shows the names of Don Giovanni’s thousands of conquests from his manservant Leporello’s journal scrawled across the building. There are splodges of spattered ink that are repeated on the dresses of the Don’s victims to remind us that each of them is just a footnote in his ledger of short-term love. As the drama progresses, we see blood and other viscous bodily fluids dripping and spreading like a virus over the building as the Don’s obsessional lust infects all in his path. There are line drawings of twisted naked bodies, the all-seeing Masonic Eye and colours that range from dusky pink to blood red illuminating and giving texture to the unwinding of his fate.
Italian baritone Luca Micheletti as Don Giovanni is resplendent in a fur-collared blue frock coat and is dramatically convincing in the part of this galactico of Lotharios. The story centres on his attempts to seduce or re-seduce three women, two of whom are on the cusp of marriage. In the signature Champagne Aria ‘Fin ch’han dal vino calda la testa’ Don Giovanni sets out his hedonistic stall whilst positioned at the centre of a whirling kaleidoscope of images. He artfully plays off the men and women against each other revelling as the pawns in his game fail to take him – ‘None of them is a match for me’. Micheletti brought romance to the aria ‘Deh, vieni alla finestra – Ah, come to the window’ and impressed with his desperate chutzpah vocally at the end of the truncated opera (the final scene is cut for good dramatic reasons) with his final utterings in ‘Don Giovanni! A cenar teco m’invitasti – Don Giovanni! You invited me to dine with you’.
The Don’s primary and only long-term relationship is with his servant Leporello, a more comedic creation who shambles across the stage in a misshapen grey felt hat. Always wanting to leave the Don’s service but seduced by his money, Leporello wants the Don to give up women – but this is a mission impossible. As the Don says ‘I need them more than I need bread’. Christopher Maltman makes his debut in the role with his resonant rich-toned and mellifluous voice sometimes outshining Micheletti. Maltman really looked as if he was in his element as Leporello, despite having sung the role of Don Giovanni many times across Europe, the USA and China to great acclaim.
Swedish soprano Maria Bengtsson was the female star of the show playing Donna Anna who Don Giovanni attempts to rape at the start of the opera, killing her father the Commendatore in the process. Bengtsson has a luminous upper register impressing both with the drama of ‘Ma qual mai s’offre oh Dei – What is this I behold?’ and in the sublime duet ‘Ah, vendicar, se il puoi, giura quel sangue ognor! – Ah, swear to avenge that blood if you can!’ with her fiancée Don Ottavio. American tenor Charles Castronovo as Ottavio has a wonderful lyric tone with his aria ‘Dalla sua pace’ displaying a beguiling romanticism. Anna’s father, stentorian Polish bass Adam Palka, dies with a backdrop of dripping blood having been told casually by Don Giovanni ‘Stay if you want to die’. But on his return from the dead, the tables are turned.
Irish mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy as Donna Elvira tried and failed to escape from the Don’s hold on her, wanting him to reform ‘Ah, chi mi dice mai – Ah, who could ever tell me’, but finally accepting her lot. Her voice seemed underpowered at times for the role but this might have been to do with the sometimes uneven balance between the voices and the orchestra.
Austrian soprano Christina Gansch displayed a lovely clarity of tone as the peasant bride Zerlina, although she displayed some nerves, pushing ahead in her first entries. British bass Thomas Faulkner playing her dim-witted, gawky husband Masetto brought a comic edge and characterful vocal tone to the part with the two characters being victims of Don Giovanni’s aristocratic privilege.
Conducted by Constantin Trinks in his house debut from the fortepiano, the orchestra played with a confidence and swagger that comes with familiarity with the score. From the sombre first orchestral hits of the overture before morphing into the more playful Allegro in D major, the orchestra set the tone for Don Giovanni’s fate. As mentioned, there were balance issues and some were questioning Trinks’ choice of tempi but I never felt the drama sag or feel rushed.
Special mention must go to Costume Designer Anja Vang Kragh and the fabulous fin de siècle costumes that helped to create gorgeous silhouettes with the help of Lighting Designer Bruno Poet. I really enjoyed Kasper Holten’s take on Don Giovanni. It’s a production with some very fine if sometimes uneven singing alongside terrific dramatic moments. Don Giovanni becomes an existential hero who owns his fate, taking responsibility if not seeking penance for his sins.
8–26 SEPTEMBER 2022
Don Giovanni
Royal Opera House
Bow Street
London
WC2E 9DD
https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/don-giovanni-by-kasper-holten-details
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