Offenbach: La belle Helene - Catherine Backhouse, Anthony Flaum - New Sussex Opera Photo Robert Knights |
Reviewed by Anthony Evans on 5 December 2019 Star rating: (★★★★)
The whole evening was a delight: Offenbach's operetta in a delightful new production
New Sussex Opera chose to mark the two hundredth anniversary of Offenbach’s birth with a production of La Belle Hélène and for the first time has collaborated with another company Opera della Luna, this year celebrating its 25th anniversary. Having begun its run in Lewes, on Thursday 5 December it rocked up at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London. Hannah Pedley was the Queen of Sparta, she of the fatal beauty, and Anthony Flaum was Paris come to claim his prize. Paul Featherstone, Charles Johnston and Robert Gildon were Menelaus, Agamemnon and Calchas. Jennifer Clark was Helen’s attendant Bacchis and Catherine Backhouse, the son of Agamemnon, Orestes. Toby Purser conducted this new version that was arranged, translated and directed by Opera della Luna’s Artistic Director Jeff Clarke.
Offenbach: La belle Helene - Hannah Pedley, Anthony Flaum - New Sussex Opera (Photo Robert Knights) |
If this was the touchstone used to assay the merits of this production, then it paid off in spades. Dispensing with any torpor inducing pretensions (no names no pack drill) we tumbled head first into a world of contemporary satire, raising a ginger finger at our complacency and the right old mess that we’ve gotten ourselves into.
The action set off apace with some jauntily crisp playing from the St Paul's Sinfonia in the pit. The chorus descended with idiosyncratic abandon, indeterminate gender and questionable sartorial taste, courtesy of Simply Spartan Tours, there to witness the site of all that Venereal intrigue, set back whenever it was.
Offenbach: La belle Helene - Robert Gildon, Paul Featherstone, Charles Johnston - New Sussex Opera (Photo Robert Knights) |
Oh, that all opera bouffe could be delivered with such panache.
La Belle Hélène
A collaboration with
New Sussex Opera and Opera della Luna
Thursday 5 December 2019
The Bloomsbury Theatre
Helen : Hannah Pedley
Paris : Anthony Flaum
Menelaus : Paul Featherstone
Agamemnon : Charles Johnston
Calchas : Robert Gildon
Bacchis : Jennifer Clark
Orestes : Catherine Backhouse
Conductor : Toby Purser
Director : Jeff Clarke
St. Paul’s Sinfonia
Offenbach: La belle Helene - Anthony Flaum, Hannah Pedley - New Sussex Opera (Photo Robert Knights) |
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