DON GIOVANNI (Royal Opera)*****

 

By Louise

Link: https://stream.roh.org.uk/packages/don-giovanni-2019/videos/don-giovanni

Available until: 27^th December 2020

The Royal Opera have been really wonderful for keeping us entertained during the pandemic. They stream their past productions online for a very small price, as well as putting on socially-distanced shows for a very small or no audience, which can be watched online.

This production of Don Giovanni is probably my favourite ROH streamed production so far, but I did enjoy all the other productions a lot. It is a beautiful opera musically anyway and it has lots of interesting characters, but in Kasper Holton’s production – revived by Jack Furness - they are especially interesting because he has shown the characters in ways I have never seen them before. The ending is really interesting too.

It has a really beautiful set, which was designed by Es Devlin. It is kind of like a two-storey house, but with stairs and passages rather than proper rooms. It is on a turntable, which is used to move characters out of view of the audience. It also has video designs by Luke Hall. These are quite big, but I really think they enhance the production and don’t take it over. One video design is used to protect the modesty of Donna Elvira’s maid. Another is to give the impression that the characters are walking down long corridors. There’s another one I like a lot near the end, but I don’t think I should tell you about that.

The conductor Harmut Haenchen surprised me at the start. I have heard the overture lots of times and it is my favourite Mozart overture, though it does have a lot of competition. But this time, the overture started off with an extra edge of danger and the conductor brought out layers of the music which are not usually that obvious. It was almost like hearing a new overture and it was so exciting. Once the opera started, the music sounded more as I expected it, but that wasn’t disappointing either because the music is so beautiful.

Erwin Schrott first appeared in Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House about ten years before this production. He played Leporello, but he returned as Don Giovanni the next time it was revived and he has continued to play both roles. My mum says he looks just the same, but his performance is calmer and quieter with less comedy and more subtleties. He has a lot of stage presence and he has a bit of swagger, but not too much. This makes him mysterious and intriguing. His voice is very rich and flexible and he is a good actor. There are also moments when he is surveying the action and looking at the messes he caused and I think he enjoys it. He acts the ending brilliantly. It really makes me wonder about everything.

Roberto Tagliavini is another Leporello who might go on to play the title role. When he sings that he’d like to be a nobleman you can actually imagine it. He is attractive with lots of stage presence and unlike his master, he does have a bit of a conscience. He acts Leporello very well without doing lots of comedy.

The production seems to have a big focus on the female characters and they are played differently from usual. Firstly, there is Donna Elvira’s maid, played by Josephine Arden. She’s often just a shadow or a head at a window (and I’ve never seen her in a cast list before), but she appears in a couple of scenes with Donna Elvira. This means we know who she is already when Don Giovanni decides he likes her. She also provides one of the funniest moments.

Donna Elvira is usually portrayed as someone who is too in love with Giovanni to think properly, but Myrto Papatanasiu makes her seem intelligent. She tracks Giovanni down without any trouble and then she rescues Zerlina from him and warns Donna Anna too, then she leads the attempt to storm the masked ball. But although she is the one masterminding everything, she is the one who can’t resist him in the end, which is actually quite moving. She knows he isn’t a good man, but she really loves him.

Malin Byström (who my mum is sure she saw as Zerlina) plays Donna Anna, who is especially interesting as she goes on a really big emotional journey. At the start, she likes Don Giovanni, but there’s a big shock moment when she realises what it has led to and all the way through, she is trying to deal with all the terrible things that have happened because of her. She sings gorgeously.

Zerlina can be played as being very innocent or as being very friendly to the men (Masetto doesn’t think she’s as innocent as she seems and depending on who plays Zerlina, I have different ideas about whether he’s right or if it is just his jealousy). Louise Alder (who is a really wonderful singer) is quite stroppy but very beguiling as Zerlina, and she makes a very interesting choice which could be interpreted in a couple of different ways. This made Zerlina even more interesting in the second half because I was still trying to understand her.

Daniel Behle is really lovely as Don Ottavio, but Leon Kosavic’s Masetto isn’t so nice. If you watch it you will see why I’m not very sure about him, but I think the role is acted and sung really well. Petros Magoula’s Commendatore is really creepy and the statue plays a much bigger role than usual.

It really is a very enjoyable production and I really liked seeing the new interpretations of the female characters and thinking about them in different ways.