Performer: Annilese Miskimmon

Janáček’s drama of infanticide is delivered at full power by Nina Stemme and Agneta Eichenholz in Annilese Miskimmon’s well-crafted production. The orchestra, however, are just too loud.

Miskimmon's relocation of the action to Ireland is unsparing in its evocation not of some tearjerking melodrama but of an almost documentary reportage on real events. 

Margaret Atwood’s dystopic novel, masterfully adapted for the operatic stage, is strongly performed at ENO and rings even truer today than it did when it was written.