★★★✰✰
Verdi’s lifelong passion for the Bard filtered through to much of his work. He wrote direct operatic translations of Shakespeare’s plays (Macbeth, Otello and Falstaff) and sometimes he borrowed plot points, relationships, and characters; the strained father-daughter relationship at the heart of Rigoletto echoes both King Lear and Shylock.
The Royal Opera House’s revival of their 2017 production of Otello, directed by Keith Warner certainly has its moments: The chorus’s entrance at the beginning of Act One marked by the back wall collapsing sending a wave of smoke billowing up like a miniature hurricane; or the procession of a-blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Lion of Venice statue floating on and disappearing off stage (one wonders how much money was spent on the Lion just for its ten seconds of stage time). But for the most part the production lacks fire. It promises danger, subterfuge, and intrigue but often fails to deliver.
The chorus prove that you can have too much of a good thing. They have had a powerful season, breathing life into Peter Grimes’ Borough, the paranoid community who ostracise the eponymous anti-hero, and rendering Nabucco’s ‘Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves’ with heartfelt urgency. But given Boris Kudlička’s claustrophobic set, the stage is too small for them making for a clunky staging and sequences. This was especially irritating in Act One’s drinking song (Inaffia l’ugola!) garnished with unnecessary physical revelry – more messy than menacing.
Fortunately, there are enough focused moments to declutter the production. American tenor Russell Thomas makes history as the first Black performer to play Otello at Covent Garden. (The programme notes Otello’s uncomfortable performance history usually involving white singers in blackface). Russell saunters with an imperial spring in his step as the chorus (crowded around him) proclaim his victory against the Turks, setting the stage for his eventual downfall.
But the moments where he is alone, swallowed by the dark and oppressive set, allow Thomas to shine. Light is blasted through slits in the walls slicing through the darkness to cut Otello into shreds as his mind fractures into pieces. Despite a rocky start, Thomas takes time to find his feet, but when he does, he delivers an electric performance.
Christopher Maltman’s sadistic Iago is a stone-cold villain with a powerful vocal performance to boot. With a slick black cloak, he slithers around the darkness like an angler fish hovering through the twilight zone stalking Otello as his prey. Hrachuhí Bassénz as Desdemona is also strong throughout, hitting high notes with delicacy and innocence, and the more tumultuous parts with fervour, passion, and a crisp articulation. Her ‘Ave Maria’, sung moments before her death, is a particular highlight.
Despite individually strong elements, this production is missing a melodramatic glue to piece them together. The narrative feels episodic rather than a flowing piece of storytelling despite Verdi’s colourful score and Daniele Rustioni hot-blooded conducting.
Words by Alexander Cohen
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