Engaging rom-com energy in Martin Constantine's not quite end of the pier production of Donizetti's The Elixir of Love at English Touring Opera

Donizetti: The Elixir of Love - Timothy Nelson & chorus - English Touring Opera (Photo: © Richard Hubert Smith)

Donizetti: The Elixir of Love; Natasha Page, Tamsanqa Tylor Lamani, Emyr Wyn Jones, Timothy Nelson, Rosie Lomas, director: Martin Constantine, conductor: Alice Farnham, English Touring Opera; Hackney Empire
Reviewed 27 September 2025

Relocated to a fading 1980s English seaside resort, Martin Constantine's production brings an engaging rom-com energy to Donizetti's comedy with some delightful performances from a strong ensemble

Opera companies seem to have a fondness for Donizetti's comedy L'elisir d'amore at the moment and productions have included St Paul's Opera's recent production, ENO in 2024, Wild Arts in 2023 (revived this summer), Longborough Opera in 2023, West Green Opera and Longhope Opera in 2022 and Waterperry Opera in 2021. That's a lot of elixir being drunk. Now English Touring Opera has produced their version which is touring to 12 venues this autumn alongside Britten's The Rape of Lucretia.

English Touring Opera opened Martin Constantine's new production of Donizetti's The Elixir of Love at the Hackney Empire on Saturday 27 September 2025. Alice Farnham conducted with Natasha Page as Adina, Tamsanqa Tylor Lamani as Nemorino, Timothy Nelson as Belcore, Emyr Wyn Jones as Dulcamara and Rosie Lomas as Gianetta. Designs were by April Dalton and movement by Jennifer Fletcher. 

The work was sung in Amanda Holden's English translation originally created for Stephen Medcalfe's 1993 production for English Touring Opera. The opera was performed in John Longstaff's orchestral reduction using forces that matched those of Britten's opera.

Donizetti: The Elixir of Love - Emyr Wyn Jones, Natasha Page, Timothy Nelson & chorus - English Touring Opera (Photo: © Richard Hubert Smith)

Martin Constantine and designer April Dalton had chosen to set the work in a faded English seaside town of the 1980s. Inspirations partly came from Martin Parr's book The Last Resort along with Constantine's view that audiences respond better to comedy when it is closer to home, set somewhere recognisable. Another element was of course how they handled the veins of cruelty and class consciousness that run through Donizetti and librettist Felice Romani's original.

In Constantine's version, Nemorino's boss is Gianetta. Adina is simply the object of his affections. She is clearly better educated and does not take his devotion seriously. Nemorino is timid and shy, whilst the element of cruelty to him is minimised. All the characters were strongly etched, clearly British comedy of the era was another inspiration. Belcore was self-regarding and funny, yet without the vein of class-conscious nastiness which underlies the role. We never saw any tourists, the chorus were all people working in mundane jobs around the resort and the little corner of the town that we saw was clearly their hang-out during breaks.

Natasha Page made a charming, slightly low-key Adina. Her approach to the role's coloratura was quite gentle, combining facility with grace (a couple of taxed high notes apart) yet without the sort of Italianate fizz that the role really needs. This Adina was very much a nice English girl, swept off her feet by Timothy Nelson's Belcore even when not quite taking him seriously, and underestimating Tamsanqa Tylor Lamani's Nemorino.

Donizetti: The Elixir of Love - Natasha Page, Tamsanqa Tylor Lamani - English Touring Opera (Photo: © Richard Hubert Smith)

I am not quite sure that I believed in Adina's complete change of heart in Act Two, but the interaction worked because Lamani was such a charmingly believable Nemorino, his devotion clearly genuine. Lamani's voice had a slightly dry quality to it, without the usual Italianate openness but his passagework was fluently expressive and the way he fined everything down for 'Una furtiva lagrima' was lovely indeed. At the end, his disbelief in his luck really made the final scenes work.

Timothy Nelson's entrance as Belcore was quite a tour de force, appearing over the sea wall wearing a pair of shorts and proceeding to preen and gyrate in a manner that was hilariously self-regarding. You could hardly take this Belcore seriously, yet he clearly felt himself a king amongst men. Nelson got Belcore's musical character off to a tee and throughout the evening he was a great delight and formed a lovely contrast to the other characters.

As Dulcamara, Emyr Wyn Jones appeared on a tricycle with trailer and from his first appearance really commanded the stage. Wyn Jones projected the quack doctor's showmanship with confidence and wonderfully resonant tone. It helped too that Wyn Jones' diction was superb. This character was created before us, yet was well sung. His Dulcamara was more amiable than some, and he fitted in with the end of the pier style of the show, you felt that none of his audience took him that seriously.

Donizetti: The Elixir of Love - Tamsanqa Tylor Lamani, Emyr Wyn Jones - English Touring Opera (Photo: © Richard Hubert Smith)

Rosie Lomas made a surprisingly characterful Gianetta, initially something of a wall-flower she blossomed when she and the women in the chorus discovered Nemorino's newfound wealth.

The hard working chorus of eight were each given an individual style and role, and all were vividly engaged in the whole production. The evening worked because all concerned, chorus and soloists, projected the comedy, the drama and the pathos with such a strong degree of enjoyment and engagement. The production's strength was not so much any particular soloist as the sense of ensemble, and the fun came from the various interactions, both touching and comic, that Constantine drew out of his principals.

In the pit Alice Farnham and her players gave us a lively and engaging account of the score, along with some lovely moments in the more sentimental sections. The playing was stylish and full fat, we never felt we were listening to something reduced.

Someone clearly had had great fun with the costumes, not just the rather naff sub-1980s styles including Adina's baby-doll wedding outfit, but the lovely detail of the chorus costumes, each imaginatively referencing a dead-end job in the resort. Then in Act Two the women's costumes were, deliberately, almost part of the scenery. And always great fun.

Donizetti: The Elixir of Love - Rosie Lomas & chorus - English Touring Opera (Photo: © Richard Hubert Smith)

This charmingly engaged production should clearly draw in both regular opera goers and newcomers, and the choice of opera makes sense in terms of a season alongside Britten's intense masterwork. But can we please call a moratorium of Donizetti's comedies for the moment and explore 19th century opera buffa more widely.

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