Seductive, swaggering and morally bankrupt, Don Giovanni is a character who speaks readily in our age. Mozart’s glorious music raises the familiar trope of the notorious libertine into high art, laced with humour and savage wit. With excellent soloists, a lithe orchestra and a production that emphasises the comic, this opening performance of the 16th Blackwater Valley Opera Festival, set in the idyllic setting of Lismore Castle, proves a winning combination.
At the heart of Don Giovanni lies moral ambiguity: does the opera condemn Don Giovanni or does it secretly admire him? Under the direction of Tom Creed it would seem somewhat of the latter but Creed is sharply aware of the need to poke fun and not to take any of it too seriously. Transplanted from 16th-century Spain to a contemporary hotel, the production successfully amplifies the opera’s humorous potential in ways Mozart himself may never have imagined. Don Giovanni is frequently on his mobile phone looking at dating websites and Leporello uses his iPad to show the catalogue of beauties that his master has seduced. Donna Elvira, Donna Anna and Don Ottavio are hotel guests exiting and entering their rooms while Masetto and Zerlina are hotel staff. There is a Fawlty Towers moment as the staff disposes of the Commendatore’s body by stuffing him into a cleaning closet, provoking audience laughter.
The hotel setting has its limitations though, especially in the final scene with the Commendatore where the supernatural element is notably downplayed. Don Giovanni exits rather anti-climatically through the fire escape as a metaphor for his descent into hell. Admittedly, Mozart’s uneasy moral conclusion has always posed challenges for directors although this production makes little attempt to justify it, with the Commendatore reduced to slugging from a wine bottle.
Aedin Cosgrove’s hotel sets are simple but effective with the lift and the stairs acting as natural exits while Catherine Fay’s costume designs reinforce the production’s comic tone. Don Giovanni and Leporello are in matching tracksuits, the master blinged up with jewels and shades. Donna Anna remains in her wedding dress and her husband wears his tuxedo while Donna Elvira flounces around in yoga pants before later appearing in a flimsy dress. Masetto, Zerlina and their friends celebrate the wedding in deliberately absurd hen and stag party attire, pushing the comedy close to farce.
Vocally there was much that impressed. Jolyon Loy looked every inch the part as Giovanni. Towering over the cast, he swaggered and strutted about with charisma. His voice was well-modulated and pleasing in tone, though in ensemble numbers he occasionally lacked the authority and heft one expects from the title role. By the second half, however, the voice had opened up impressively, particularly in his solo aria. Andrew Murphy made for a superb Leporello, possessing a fine sense of comic timing and rhythmic precision. His relationship with Giovanni was convincingly drawn as both servant-master and ironic admirer-critic. The Catalogue aria was sung with flair and earned more than a few guffaws from the audience.
Amy Ní Fhearraigh was a convincing Donna Anna. Believable emotionally, she balanced her fury for Giovanni with a silky lyricism. Gavan Ring, brought sincerity and passion to the role of Don Ottavio, convincingly caught between admiration for Giovanni and his duty to avenge Anna’s father. Carolyn Holt brought a taut, bright voice to Elvira, combining comic despair with moral outrage. While not altogether avoiding caricature she nevertheless provided much of the opera’s emotional conscience.
Aimee Kearney shone wonderfully as Zerlina, possessing a bright, pearly tone and there was wonderful chemistry between her and the Masetto of Dominic Veilleux, who proved a fine vocal match. Valerian Ruminski brought gravitas and a sombre change of mood to his role as the Commendatore at the end. His bass voice easily dominated the stage and his acting was equally convincing.
Keeping it all together in the pit was Peter Whelan and who brought rhythmic vitality, lithe tempi and textural clarity to the score. At times the Irish Baroque Orchestra sounded somewhat thin in the strings and towards the close the brass began to sound somewhat frayed, but there was no doubting the energy and dramatic pacing they brought to the work as whole. This was a thoroughly enjoyable and intelligently modernised Don Giovanni which, by and large, worked very successfully.
Andrew's accommodation was funded by Blackwater Valley Opera Festival
