Confidence, style and engagement: Victoria Newlyn's new production of Rossini's The Barber of Seville at West Green House Opera is a complete delight

Rossini: The Barber of Seville - Dominic Sedgwick - West Green House Opera

Rossini: The Barber of Seville; Dominic Sedgwick, Nico Darmanin, Katie Bray, Grant Doyle, Trevor Eliot Bowes, director: Victoria Newlyn, conductor: Matthew Kofi Waldren; West Green House Opera
Reviewed 28 July 2024

Performing the piece with real engagement yet never losing sight of the importance of Rossini's music, the cast gelled as an ensemble, with confidence and style

Spanish barbers seem to be cropping up regularly this Summer, with a new production of Rossini's The Barber of Seville opened at Opera Holland Park last month, and Waterperry Opera will be presenting their new production next month. On 28 July 2024 we caught Rossini's The Barber of Seville at West Green House Opera. Victoria Newlyn directed and Matthew Kofi Waldren conducted, with designs by Laura Jane Stanfield. Dominic Sedgwick was Figaro (making his role debut), with Nico Darmanin as the Count, Katie Bray as Rosina, Grant Doyle as Doctor Bartolo, Trevor Eliot Bowes as Basilio, Jeni Bern as Berta and Hector Bloggs as Fiorello.

After three years performing in the open air theatre on the lake, with its glorious setting balanced out by the need to use amplification, this year the festival returned to its original venue in a temporary structure in the garden. On Sunday evening, the setting was vindicated as the favourable weather meant that the venue's rear wall was open, thus giving a magical view of West Green House behind the stage. This setting was leveraged in the production, so that Dominic Sedgwick's Figaro made his entrance from the garden, and during the storm scene in Act Two the garden's lighting responded to the musical storms happening in the orchestra.

Rossini: The Barber of Seville - Trevor Eliot Bowes, Jeni Bern, Grant Doyle, Katie Bray, Dominic Sedgwick, Nico Darmanin - West Green House Opera

Victoria Newlyn and Matthew Kofi Waldren are old favourites at West Green, and the pair were responsible for Rossini's La Cenerentola in 2019 [see my review] and Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore in 2022 [see my review]. A return to the smaller theatre, with the cast in close contact with the audience, really benefitted Rossini's comedy and a key to to the production was the sheer vividness of communication. This was about the characters on the stage rather than spectacle.

West Green House Opera: new artistic director Tom Elwin introduces the 2024 season

Thomas Elwin as Lensky in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at West Green House Opera in 2021(Photo: Matthew Williams-Ellis)

West Green House Opera returns this Summer for its fourth season in the magical theatre on the lake. Running from 19 to 28 July 2024 the season features Verdi's Falstaff, Rossini's Il barbiere di Sivigla and Puccini's Suor Angelica. As ever, one of the non-musical attractions of the festival is the setting, with Marylyn Abbott's gardens form both a spectacular operatic backdrop and a source of pre-opera delight.

The opera company also has a new artistic director, Tom Elwin. Best known as a tenor, he was Lensky in West Green's 2021 production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin [see review on OperaToday] and his roles last year included Gennaro in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia with English Touring Opera [see my review], Rodolfo in Puccini's La Boheme also with ETO and Nemorino in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore with Wild Arts [see my review].

For Tom, one of the important features of the festival is having a thread of loyalty to their artists running through. At a time when UK-based singers are able to work less at companies like ENO and WNO, Tom feels it is important to offer opportunities to singers. This continuity of support brings benefits to both; Jenny Stafford, who sings the title role in Puccini's Suor Angelica this year was Tatyana in Eugene Onegin in 2021 and Nedda in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci last year [see my review]

Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore - Dulcamara (Richard Walshe) makes his entry - West Green House Opera 2022

This year will be just the fourth time the company has performed on the lake-side stage. The decision to have the stage on the island in the middle of the garden's lake was very much a COVID-related one and not without challenges, but Tom feels that the beauty of the setting make the challenges worth facing and it is this lake-side setting that makes West Green House Opera unique. The garden setting also turns going to the opera into a lovely afternoon. The garden is small enough to feel that your are enjoying opera within a National Trust property rather than a theatre set in the countryside.

Rising to the challenge: a pair of world-class tenors as Turiddu and Canio anchor fine performances of Cav and Pag at West Green

Leoncavallo: Pagliacci - Ronald Samm, Jenny Stafford - West Green House Opera (Photo: John Reading)

Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana, Leoncavallo; Pagliacci;  Alexey Dolgov, Samantha Crawford, Sarah Pring, George von Bergen, Angharad Lyddon, Ronald Samm, Jenny Stafford, Grant Doyle, Lawrence Thackeray, Thomas Chenhall, director: John Ramster, conductor: John Andrews; West Green House Opera

Strong performances and imaginative productions lift the classic double bill on an evening dampened by the weather

Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci are not, at first sight, natural bedfellows. Both provide intense emotion and over-the-top drama in the Italian countryside. Perhaps a little too close to each other in style, in fact the differences between them are sufficient to make a satisfying and substantial double bill, something that audiences have been enjoying since the Met in New York first paired them in 1893. Other pairings have been tried, but nothing really sticks. Cav and Pag it is.

For their main opera presentation this year, West Green House's Opera Season presented Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. We caught the second performance, on Sunday 30 July 2023. The production was directed by John Ramster and designed by Bridget Kimak, with lighting by Sarah Bath and sound design by Gary Dixon. John Andrews conducted, with Alexey Dolgov as Turiddu, Samantha Crawford as Santuzza, Sarah Pring as Mamma Lucia, George von Bergen as Alfio and Angharad Lyddon as Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana, and Ronald Samm as Canio, Jenny Stafford as Nedda, Grant Doyle as Tonio, Lawrence Thackeray as Beppe and Thomas Chenhall as Silvio in Pagliacci.

For all the double-bill's popularity, it is a significant undertaking for a small opera company, requiring two sets of principals (or a single set willing and able to undertake the double challenge). With the general dearth of good Italian dramatic voices in general, this means that casting is made even more of a challenge and it is to West Green House Opera's credit that they fielded two such strong casts, with principals well able to do just to their roles, in particular the two leading tenors, Alexey Dolgov as Turiddu and Ronald Samm as Canio, gave performances that any opera house worth its salt would have been proud of.

West Green House Opera’s 2023 season

West Green House - The Opera Garden from West Green House on Vimeo.

West Green House Opera in Hampshire is now well-known for its enchanting Theatre on the Lake, set in the beautiful surroundings of West Green House Gardens which are spectacularly lit throughout the evening. This year's season is as ambitious as ever. The two fully staged productions are Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and opera's most famous double bill Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.

Sweeney Todd is brought to West Green by the creative team of director/designer Richard Studer and conductor Jonathan Lyness, who have been with the company since its inception over twenty years ago.  Baritone Matthew Sharp sings the murderous title role with mezzo-soprano Clare Presland playing the resourceful proprietress of a failing pie shop Mrs Lovett.  The supporting cast includes Felicity Buckland as the beggar woman, Simon Wilding as Judge Turpin, Eleanor Sanderson-Nash as Johanna and Harry Apps, fresh from Les Miserables in the West End, as Tobias Ragg. Performances are on 22 & 23 July. 

The high drama of Cav & Pag comes to West Green on 29 & 30 July. The double bill will be directed by John Ramster (Eugene Onegin 2021) and conducted by John Andrews.  The stellar casts include Alexey Dolgov as Turiddu and Ronald Samm as Canio. Samantha Crawford makes her West Green debut as Santuzza and Jenny Stafford (Tatyana, Eugene Onegin 2021) returns as Nedda. Bridget Kimak is the designer. 

The Friday night productions look set to be equally exciting. On 21 July, director Thomas Guthrie weaves his magic in his newly devised show Mozart’s Constanze. Soprano Luci Briginshaw sings the music written by the composer for his beloved wife, including the exquisite 'Et incarnatus est' from his Mass in C Minor, alongside players from Orpheus Sinfonia. Dance choreographed by Maria da Luz promises an evening of great beauty.

Robert Murray (Photo: Gerard Collet)

The second Friday of the festival (28 July) brings an entirely different production, Offenbach’s Robinson Crusoe in Concert. Conductor David Parry has written a new English translation full of wit and fun. Tenor Robert Murray sings the title role. Where better to perform this sadly neglected work than on West Green’s very own desert island! 

West Green House Opera is dedicated to supporting young artists and implemented its first Young Artists Covers Programme in 2022. The programme continues this year, culminating in a scenes showcase in London on 22 July and a lunchtime concert in the Theatre Lawn Pavilion at West Green on 23 July.

Finally on 25 July, also in the Theatre Lawn Pavilion, Armonico Consort and Oz Clarke present an evening of wine and music. It is a little-known fact that the famed writer, wine critic and broadcaster Oz Clarke was a singer for many years, starting at Canterbury, continuing with the Schola Cantorum, followed by both the Monteverdi Choir and the Academy of St Martin’s. In a completely unique programme presented in cabaret style, Oz & Armonico Consort investigate the spurious links between wine from across the world and Baroque music. Featuring the work of composers including Bach, Purcell and Vivaldi, plus some of the most upbeat Baroque dance music from South America, it promises to be a highly entertaining evening.

West Green House Opera runs from 21 July to 30 July 2023. Full details from their website.

West Green House Opera's Theatre on the Lake in 2022

Riotous comedy & humanity: Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore at West Green House Opera

Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore - Dulcamara (Richard Walshe) makes his entry - West Green House Opera

Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore: Samantha Clarke, John-Colyn Gyeantey, Nicholas Lester, Richard Walshe, director: Victoria Newlyn, conductor: Matthew Kofi Waldren West Green House Opera
31 July 2022 (★★★★)

Victoria Newlyn's production filled the stage with a riot of colour and movement, but did not neglect the opera's humanity aided by some fine performances from this young cast

For its 2022 season, West Green House Opera has returned to the theatre on the lake, first created in 2021. With the stage on the island in the lake and the audience in pavilions on the lakeside, opera productions trade immediacy for a bit of magic in the setting (enhanced by the lighting of the garden when the sun sets). We caught the final performance of the season (31 July 2022), Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, directed by Victoria Newlyn and conducted by Matthew Kofi Waldren [the partnership responsible for West Green's 2019 production of Rossini's La Cenerentola, see my review]. Samantha Clarke was Adina, John-Colyn Gyeantey as Nemorino, Nicholas Lester was Belcore, Richard Walshe was Dulcamara and Tereza Gevorgyan was Giannetta. Designs were by Adrian Linford with lighting by Sarah Bath and sound design by Gary Dixon.

The stage presented the audience with a long and relatively narrow acting area in front of the orchestra (seen side-on), and any set was restricted to the sides of the stage. Newlyn sensibly opted for a broad-brush, highly physical production style where the characters' emotions were reflected in physical actions (Newlyn's experience encompasses both directing and being movement director). The setting was modern, and the action had been transposed to a river cruiser, Il viaggio, where Adina (Samantha Clarke) was the cruise director. The chorus was made up of the various personnel of the ship, which gave designer Adrian Linford an excuse to go slightly mad with the costumes and meant that whenever Newlyn lined the chorus up along the stage for one of the ensemble numbers, the results were a visual riot.

Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore - Samantha Clarke, John-Colyn Gyeantry - West Green House Opera

Sheer enjoyment: Rossini's La Cenerentola at West Green House

Rossini: La cenerentola - West Green House Opera

Rossini La Cenerentola; Heather Lowe, Filipe Manu, Nicholas Mogg, Zoe Drummond, Sioned Gwen Davies, Matthew Stiff, Blaise Malaba, dir: Victoria Newlyn, cond: Matthew Kofi Waldren; West Green Opera
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 5 July 2019 Star rating: 4.0 (★★★★)
A largely young cast in a production which positively fizzed with excitement and enjoymnet

This year's West Green House Opera presented a pair of operas, Strauss' Die Fledermaus and Rossini's La Cenerentola in the temporary theatre placed at the side of the glorious West Green gardens, as well as all sorts of other events during the week of the festival including smaller scale performances of Rossini's early comedy L'Inganno Felice.

We caught the second of two performances of Rossini's La Cenerentola at West Green House Opera in a production directed by Victoria Newlyn with designs by Richard Studer, with Matthew Kofi Waldren conducting. The cast featured Heather Lowe as Angelina, Filipe Manu as Ramiro, Nicholas Mogg as Dandini, Matthew Stiff as Don Magnifico, Zoe Drummond as Clorinda, Sioned Gwen Davies as Tisbe and Blaise Malaba as Alidoro.

Newlyn and Studer solved the problems of the theatre's limited stage facilities by having a fixed set, thus obviating the scene changes between Don Magnifico's house and the Prince's palace. Studer's witty set referenced the fact that most of the audience members would be picnicing in the West Green Gardens. His set featured an abandoned Citroen 2CV at one side and a Landrover at the other, with Don Magnifico and his family reduced to primitive camping in and around the 2CV, whilst the Prince's 'ball' was in fact a posh country picnic by the Landrover, and the setting was roughly modern.