Review: Don Giovanni

Literally a case of "anything goes" for NI Opera's outgoing Artistic Director Oliver Mears, Don Giovanni, staged at a packed Grand Opera House, is a directorial swan song with greater emphasis on the swan than the song - it may well be remembered more for mime than musicality, as a partly classical and partly contemporary caper with a retro yet riotous tint.

Imagine one of Mozart's masterpieces filtered through the combined visions of Baz Luhrmann and Cole Porter (hence "Anything Goes") to produce an often comedic and never uninteresting carnival of sight and sound.
 
Some may laud the active choreography, colourful costuming, self-aware humour and epic set design, while others may leave the theatre in puzzlement, one's mileage varying as much as it did with last year's oppressive but memorable Turandot. It's swings and roundabouts, but after this Don Giovanni, no one can doubt the mark that Oliver Mears has left on NI Opera throughout his tenure.

Setting the opera aboard a cruise ship (again, like "Anything Goes") enables set and costume designer Annmarie Woods to have an absolute ball, her vibrant work in tandem and tune with the curiosity and debauchery that exists beneath the servile extravagance "on board".

Don Giovanni himself (an impressive Henk Neven) keenly believes he is the life and soul of these surroundings from the very beginning, even while his unhappy servant Leporello (an equally impressive John Molloy) complains about his lot. The latter's bold, pronounced bass is smoothly liberated by the changing tones in Amanda Holden's fascinating English libretto, the anachronisms in the vernacular - "tosser" and "wally" are just two of many - tying in nicely to the imagery that Mears and Woods concoct for their actors to play around and with.
 
Several unseen escapades take place behind the closed doors of Cabin No. 666, a possible reference to Wim Wenders' film where multiple directors ponder the art of cinema. You might ask if the characters are pondering the art of seduction, ditto Mears with opera. And the bat-like shadows embedded over each cabin could well be a sign of impending doom for the title character if he doesn't change his ways. Which, as we know, this Casanova wannabe - more a cross between Danny Zuko and Draco Malfoy - won't. And several will suffer at his hands because of it.

The ambition on view - namely in a dance sequence too crazy to describe here - is such that inconsistency is inevitable, and because of that the flow and beauty of the piece is partially lost. Where this production compensates is in Mears' humane guidance of his eight principals, every one of them establishing him or herself as a genuine presence.

Sam Furness's tenor gradually belies Don Ottavio's nerdy appearance and confidently expresses love for the appealingly fragile Donna Anna, given sweetness and determination by Hye-Youn Lee. Rachel Kelly's soprano is game for the challenging, tempestuous personality of Giovanni's former lover, Donna Elvira, while Clive Bayley and Christopher Cull are models of stability as the to-be-dead Commendatore and to-be-cuckolded Masetto respectively.

Musically, the projection and pitch are generally strong, the verbal clarity less so. Here, the diction of Aoife Miskelly's brilliant Zerlina shines most of all, but neither Lee nor Kelly will be entirely overshadowed, both establishing resonance through skilled emoting and vocal control.

Despite unevenness in its execution, Don Giovanni is audacious, inventive, bold and sometimes rather staggering - a complicated tragicomedy given an even more complicated presentation, one to be admired. So long, Mr. Mears. We've been lucky to have you.

Simon Fallaha

Don Giovanni was performed at Belfast's Grand Opera House on Friday November 18 and Saturday November 19.

Photography by Robert Workman.