Artiste: Dale Ferguson

Handel's Giulio Cesare is heavily abridged in Sydney, but generally well-performed musically, albeit with a rather awkward staging by Neil Armfield. 

Neil Armfield's enchanting production of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream finally comes to Australia as the centrepiece of the 2021 Adelaide Festival, making a virtue of necessity with its astute casting of Australian talent.

Setting the opera in the backyard of a suburban house feels refreshingly honest: the ridiculous and simplistic tale of the evil witch, the prince and the maiden is rightfully returned to the arena of children's games, and adults look on indulgently, with a wink.