By Emma
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUfUg7_bbJc
Available until: Unknown
L’heure espagnole is really quite a naughty opera but there’s something really sweet and funny about it too. I think maybe the characters are deep enough for us to be interested in them but not so deep we’re actually going to feel bad for Torquemada?
Torquemada is a lovely man who isn’t very young and probably loves his clocks more than anything. His wife Concepcion feels a bit neglected so she’s been encouraging a handsome young poet called Gonzalve and a banker called Don Inigo who isn’t as young as Gonzalve but he is probably quite rich. There is another man in this called Ramiro who is very good at carrying clocks about and the more clocks he carries the more Concepcion notices how big and strong he is.
This production is filmed at the Wigmore Hall which I’ve never been to but it looks like it’s filmed in the entrance bit. I was wondering if it always has that many clocks in but it says at the end that they come from Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks. They are beautiful and they don’t look out of place at all. It’s a really beautiful building and it actually makes quite a good shop because it’s got the glass entrance and a little waiting section at the front and it’s tall enough to fit big clocks in.
Stephen Medcalf is the director and I think he’s made use of the space really well. I like the way he also films the characters outside the shop. Torquemada buys himself a really delicious looking cake (provided by Sally Clarke from her restaurant and shop), Don Inigo stops off at Waterstones and Ramiro slouches through the streets smoking. It’s really nice and you couldn’t do all this on a stage but it tells you something about what they’re like. There were close ups on Torquemada working on his clocks and that’s quite nice because I don’t think you could do that in the opera house, the stage would be too far away.
There is no proper orchestra in this, just the piano which is played by the music director Chris Hopkins and some brass (Ognune Lively) and percussion (Tom Marshall). If I knew the opera maybe I would have missed the orchestra but I think it all sounds really good. The opera feels quite intimate as it’s in quite a small space and you could kind of imagine someone sitting in the corner playing the piano but you couldn’t fit a whole orchestra in there.
Catherine Backhouse plays Concepcion. She looks quite sultry and her voice goes really well with that. She’s a bit pouty at the start but she gets quite smug by the end. Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts is a really sweet Torquemada, he’s kind of bumbling. Just the type who wouldn’t have a clue what his wife was up to but there’s just enough caricature in him for us not to hate Concepcion.
Elgan Llyr Thomas has a really soaring romantic sounding voice as Gonzalve the poet and it’s funny the way he’s so lost in his poems, he hardly notices Concepcion, she’s really not happy! Ross Ramgobin who I think does a lot of work for Grange Park Opera is a virile, muscular Ramiro who really seems to be enjoying the little drama he’s becoming part of. I think the character can be a bit all brawn and no brains but I think this guy knows exactly what’s going on and he’s loving it! Ashley Riches is a dour Don Inigo, he has some brilliant facial expressions, though he’s also great when you can’t see his face because he’s stuck in a clock. Lots of characterisation and he has a really good voice too. The voices in this opera are very different but they all sound good together.
L'heure espagnole is a really fun opera with some
really good characters.
No comments:
Post a Comment