La Traviata ENO review

Last Updated on November 16, 2024

It’s curtains for Violetta

Ah that feverish moment of excitement at the beginning of an opera. The lights dim, the overture swells and the curtain sweeps up to reveal… Another curtain? In Peter Konwitschny’s production of La Traviata at the ENO the curtain is the set. If all the World’s a Stage and, by extension, all the stage is a world, then this is a multiverse of multi-layered drapery.

La Traviata (1853) is Giuseppe Verdi’s inescapably omnipresent opera about the consumptive courtesan Violetta who escapes a life of profligate parties by falling in love with aristocrat Alfredo. They move in together and, she is muscled out by his family left to die a penurious death alone and wracked with tuberculosis.

But, lest we get bogged down in Traviata Trivia, back to what matters. Back to the Curtains! Johannes Leiacker’s set forms a psyche simulated in hanging cloth. As Violetta opens up to love the curtains pull back and as she is publicly crushed the full velvet façade falls down.

Typically, Traviata waits until the late part of the first act to reveal how desperately unsatisfied Violetta is with her life. But in this revival (directed by Ruth Knight) its clear from the off that the social circles she’s swimming in are toxic. A mocking partygoer apes her cough and laughs with the group. Far be it from me to demean the folically challenged but with his bared scalp, white dinner jacket and goatee Baron Duchamp was the picture of a bond villain.

Alfredo, instead of a pampered aristocrat, part of the in-crowd, was a bullied bookish outcast. He sets out to free Violetta from her soulless charades and re-cast her in farm clothing at their countryside retreat.

Following Martyn Brabbins’ departure as music director, all eyes were on conductor Richard Farnes’. He rose to the challenge with a fascinating interpretation, the buoyant waltz melodies and underpinning rhythms are tinged from the beginning with an ominous darkness. Throughout he works with the production and deftly parodies the glitz and glamour leaving the heart-wrenching moments and musical premonitions as the most affecting.

Nicole Chevalier was excellent in a difficult interpretation of Violetta. Dressed in a series of unendearing cheek-length bob wigs and overdone make-up, she was a pair of fishnet tights away from being a hackneyed image of a sex worker. Yet even through this doughty get-up, Chevalier’s mind-blowing clarity, vocal control and dynamic range shine. With a Primark handbag full of high C’s Chevalier painted a complex character.

Jose Simerilla Romero as Alfredo sounded good for the most part but when it came to the soaring high notes he never took off It was like watching Icarus struggle to get skyborne, feathered arms valiantly flapping but feet firmly in the dirt.

Roland Wood, last seen at the ENO covering from the wings for Scarpia at last year’s Tosca was a full-blooded Giorgio Germont. His rich baritone resounded through the Coliseum with force but he made a surprisingly tender Giorgio. No cartoonish love-stealing ghoul, but rather a father who seems to mean what he says.

The ENO chorus was on its usual show-stoppingly brilliant form, vivid with raw power and vocal alacrity propelling the crowd scenes to a frenzy. Strong performances throughout from soloists. ENO debut artist Patrick Keefe as Marchese d’Obigny looks like one to watch.

Verdi wrote Traviata to be a shocking and current piece of artwork, performed in contemporary clothing. This production shows it still is and still can be. I left with an irrepressible smile.  

Traviata runs at the ENO until 12th November

Photos by Belinda Jiao

www.eno.org

English National Opera,
London Coliseum,
St Martin’s Lane,
London WC2N 4ES