Wild Arts - The Marriage of Figaro

Last July, Colchester-based opera company Wild Arts performed an intimate, and rather beautiful, production of Donizetti's melodramma giocoso, 'The Elixir of Love', at Norwich Theatre Playhouse. This year, the company has been given an upgrade, and last night performed their version of Mozart's four-act operatic comedy', The Marriage of Figaro', to an almost sold-out Norwich Theatre Royal.

Travelling light, Wild Arts chose to dispense with the truck-loads of elaborate and expensive set designs, reduced the orchestra to a ten-piece ensemble (who perform on stage under the direction of  Orlando Jopling), and yet still delivered a cracking cocktail of comedy, music and singing, with their brand new English translation featuring a libretto co-written by Jopling and director Danielle de Niese.

And so, with nothing more than a few boxes, chair and screens for props, the Wild Arts cast of ten singers, led by Jack Sandison as Figaro, and Ellie Niete as his fiancée Susanna, romp through four riotous acts as servant Susanna attempts to dodge the amorous advances of her employer, Count Almaviva, whilst Figaro appears to be saddled with an unpaid debt to the housekeeper, Marcllina, and a rival wedding vow that seems to threaten the entire marriage plans. The stage is set, and what a big stage it is compared to last year’s appearance at the Playhouse.

Any fears that the members of Wild Arts would be overwhelmed by the size of the Theatre Royal auditorium and audience (the company typically seeks out small and intimate spaces, often out of doors, for their performances) are completely allayed, from the moment Jopling takes the musicians through the first few bars of the opening overture, and with Figaro and Susanna already on stage, measuring up their chamber for the arrival of the bridal bed. And the action even spills out into the stalls on several occasions, with singers coming down from the stage to cross the auditorium, passing through the audience and re-entering on the opposite side (although I don't expect anyone seated in the circle would have caught any sight of any of this).

The performance really was faultless – filled with wonderful vocal performances, delivered with a wonderful sense of comedy and fun, and with an excellent ensemble of musicians led by conductor Jopling also doubling up on electric piano (Yes, even the good old concert grand gets elbowed out in order to save on space and budget). And, even within the cavernous interior of the Theatre Royal, this performance really did still feel intimate.

Did I like the English translation? Well, as an opera purist, possibly not. But, as a way to bring opera to a larger audience, most definitely. And whilst the synchronised sur-titling provided by companies such as English National Opera and English Touring Opera provides simultaneous translation whilst allowing us to hear the original librettos, when an English translation is as engagingly funny as the one written by Jopling and de Niese (they even manage to throw in a sneaky 'Let's be having you!', just for the benefit of tonight's Norwich audience), I am completely comfortable with it.