Here comes the 1980s: powerful solo contributions rescue Opera North's misguided updating of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin,Act Two, scene one - John Brancy as Eugene Onegin, Caspar Singh as Lensky & chorus - Opera North [Photo: James Glossop]

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin; John Brancy, Verity Wingate, Caspar Singh, Jingwen Cai, director: Patrick Nolan, conductor: Garry Walker; Opera North at Leeds Grand Theatre
Reviewed 24 October 2026

Some very fine individual performances particularly from the three principals make for a satisfying evening despite the production's misguided decision to relocate the action to Russia in the 1980s and 1990s

Directors have a fondness for relocating Eastern European operas into a more recent time period covered by Soviet and Communist rule. In 2014, I caught Opera North's production of Smetana's The Bartered Bride [see my review] relocating it (successfully) to 1972, but I still have strong memories of a production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin which relocated the first two acts to just before the Revolution, with the third act coming after the Revolution and Act Three's dance sequence replaced by a political rally.

For the new production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at Opera North, director Patrick Nolan (artistic director of Opera Queensland) decided to set the piece in the Russia of the 1980s and 1990s during the era when Communism gave way to the Russia of the oligarchs, with a view to giving 'a contemporary energy' to the piece. Patrick Nolan's production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin (a co-production with Irish National Opera and Opera Queensland) opened at Leeds Grand Theatre (seen 24 October 2026), with Garry Walker conducting. Set designs were by Leslie Travers with costumes by Elizabeth Gadsby, lighting by Malcolm Rippeth, choreography by Maxine Braham and fight directed by Enric Orturio. Verity Wingate was Tatyana, John Brancy was Onegin, Jingwen Cai was Olga, Hannah Mason was Madame Larina, Claire Pascoe was Filipyevna, Caspar Singh was Lensky.

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin Act One, scene three - John Brancy as Onegin, Verity Wingate as Tatyana - Opera North [Photo: James Glossop]

The production stretched the libretto's time period so that Act One took place in the run up to the Moscow Olympics in 1980, Act Two after Gorbachov's reforms in 1985 and Act Three in 1991. Act One began with the community rehearsing a routine for the Olympics with the peasant dances replaced by a static routine with coloured boards. The setting was a run down hall, and this formed the setting for all three acts so that the more intimate scenes were played out here in relative lack of privacy. As the acts progressed, costumes got increasingly more elaborate and much fun had clearly been had with this. The opera was sung in Russian but the surtitles were adjusted so that there was no disturbance to the new dramaturgy.

Quite what the production was supposed to tell us about the characters, I am not sure. Tchaikovsky's opera was premiered in 1879 and the work looks back to the Russia of the 1820s. Life on the Larina's estate is woven into Act One, and Madame Larina's identity (and that of Filipyevna) is very much bound up with it. This was a society where class was important, and this class element was totally missing from the first two acts of the production. Add to this, the detailed action in the opera's first scene including the famous jam-making, was entirely absent. Instead Madame Larina and Filipyevna (Hannah Mason and Claire Pascoe) messed around with a great deal of business that added nothing to our understanding, and sometimes simply confounded - what were the villagers trying to achieve with their display? The letter scene took place in the same hall, as did the final scene so that Onegin (John Brancy) and Tatyana (Verity Wingate) met with people watching them. For the duel scene in Act Two, it is clear from the libretto that Onegin has brought his valet to be his second, thus undermining the fundamentals of duelling, something missing from this production.

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin Act One, scene one - Verity Wingate as Tatyana & chorus - Opera North [Photo: James Glossop]

I have always regarded dance as an important element in this opera. Any production that minimises this gets marked down in my book. In Act Two, there was indeed plenty of dancing but of a very unstylish 1980s variety. Clearly choreographer (Maxine Braham), chorus and soloists had had great fun with this and if you enjoy a trip down memory lane to the 1980s (definitely not a stylish decade) then this worked. And it has to be admitted that the scene went down well with the audience. However, as Madame Larina'a party it did not quite provide the right backdrop for the drama. Act Three thankfully did open with dancing to the Polonaise, though quite why such a grand party (with guest in elaborate evening dress) should be gathering in such a shabby hall, I do not know. And the remaining dances seemed to have been cut.

Throughout all three acts the basic set remained shabby and rather ugly. The production seemed to be aiming to remove the prettification of the opera that can happen. There is always a danger that the depiction of the 1820s can move away from realism and descend into Jane Austen pretty. Here, the opposite had happened, and for me the results were unsatisfactory. The production worked only because the principals brought such amazing energy to their roles, and you wished Nolan had chosen a setting which resonated more with Tchaikovsky's original opera, in the way that the company's current revival Verdi's Rigoletto does [see my review]

There was some lovely detailing in the costumes, including Lensky and Zaretsky's overcoats, plus the way the styles reflected the period (for good or ill). The black and white colour scheme for the Act Three ball made for a sophisticated look, contrasting with the bright colours of the previous act. Brancy's evening suit here was also beautifully cut, but did somehow make him look like a thug! 

John Brancy's Onegin seemed to be deliberately an anti-hero bringing out the character's more unsatisfactory traits. Slight and shaven-headed, Brancy gave no element of the Byronic in his portrayal. In Act One his 'big man of the village' persona was threaded through with a sense of self-importance and being self-satisfied. At the end of the first scene he even kissed Tatyana (Verity Wingate). The closing scene of Act One was a uncomfortable as you could wish, without any sense of Onegin as dashing hero. In the Act Two dance, Brancy's Onegin was very much defined by some very sharp dance moves (!) and appalling behaviour towards Olga (Jingwen Cai) and Lensky (Caspar Singh). The duel scene was low-key, relying on the singers' performance, and in Act Three action and conception came together in a most powerful way thanks to Brancy's singing. Throughout the evening his musical way with the part rose well above the rather shabby routine being depicted, and I would love to hear Brancy in a more satisfying production.  

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin duel scene - Caspar Singh as Lensky, Dean Robinson as Guillot, Simon Grange as Zaretsky, John Brancy as Onegin - Opera North [Photo: James Glossop]

The opera could easily be called 'Tatyana Larina' as it really does embody Tatyana's journey. Verity Wingate gave us this in spades, making immediately apparent the linkage between the young girl of the first scene and the mature woman in the very last. In the work's opening scene she was thoughtful, youthful and a little distant from proceedings, then in the letter scene Wingate really did pour out Tatyana's youthful heart. Here Wingate's plangent yet bright tone had the ample strength required. In the Act Two party, here somewhat older, this Tatyana was also rather removed from proceedings, often watching from the sidelines. Then in Act Three, her remarkable poise gave way to coruscating intensity in the final scene. Here the sparks flying between Wingate and Brancy made the performance come alive.

Caspar Singh made a rather serious, intense Lensky with less sense of the poet in Act One. In this new setting, Lensky and Olga (Jingwen Cai) sat at the back and canoodled. Singh is a fine lyric tenor but there were moments in Act Two's party when his voice seemed under pressure. However in the duel scene he gave us a finely controlled and nuanced aria leading to an account of the duet with Brancy's Onegin that was notable for its moving restraint.

Jingwen Cai made a wonderfully engaging Olga, her dress and demeanour suggesting a longing for greater, more exciting things, with Lensky only a way-station. Cai managed to make the role's lower tessitura seem apt and bubbly. Both Hannah Mason and Claire Pascoe as Madame Larina and Filipyevna felt less well-defined compared to more traditional productions. They still fussed in the opening scene but to less constructive intent. In Act Two, everyone was so vividly sketched that Hannah Mason's Larina seemed diminished. However, Claire Pascoe really shone in her scene in Act One with Wingate's Tatyana.

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin Act Three, scene one - John Brancy as Onegin, Joshua Bloom as Gremin - Opera North [Photo: James Glossop]

Joshua Bloom's Gremin (here an oligarch) was very much the silver fox, no sign of either military career or war injury. However Bloom sang his aria with fine resonant tone and a convincing air. Florian Panzieri was an unusually young Triquet, singing with vibrant lyricism combined with some smooth moves worthy of an Elvis impersonator. The smaller roles were well cast albeit with less dramatic business than in he original libretto, with Paul Gibson as the Captain, Simon Grange as Zaretsky and Dean Robinson as Guillot.

The chorus were hard working as ever. The production employed no dancers, so in Act One chorus members stood in serried ranks manipulating coloured boards whilst a small group danced. Then in Act Two all concerned participated in the family equivalent of 1980s dad dancing, plus the elegant Polonaise in Act Three. All this whilst singing with tone and a strong sense of character. Impressively five solo roles were drawn from the chorus - Madame Larina (Hannah Mason), Filipyevna (Claire Pascoe), Captain (Paul Gibson), Zaretsky (Simon Grange) and Guillot (Dean Robinson).

In the pit, Garry Walker and the orchestra were on terrific form and it was clear that this music was loved. The Grand Theatre is an ideal size to hear Eugene Onegin, bearing in mind Tchaikovsky's conception of the work as lyric scenes performed by students. Here Walker and his players drew you into that world.

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin Act Two, scene one - Florian Panzieri as Triquet, Verity Wingate as Tatyana, Hannah Mason as Madame Larina & chorus - Opera North [Photo: James Glossop]

Our weekend in Leeds was very much a tale of two operas. Both reset the pieces whereas Femi Elufowoju jr's vision of Rigoletto really resonated with Verdi's original, Patrick Nolan's production of Eugene Onegin seemed to almost work against the opera and relied on the individual performance to create a satisfying evening.

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