An acrobatic Orpheus and Eurydice in Edinburgh

Orpheus and Eurydice

Iestyn Davies (Orfeo) and Circa

Samantha Clarke (Euridice)

By Roy Westbrook, 14 August 2025

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“acrobats... offer a different kind of tension and resolution to that of words and music”

Reviewed at Edinburgh Playhouse, Edinburgh on 13 August 2025

Gluck, Orfeo ed Euridice

Opera Queensland

Laurence Cummings, Conductor

Yaron Lifschitz, Director, Set Designer, Choreography

Libby McDonnell, Costume Designer

Alexander Berlage, Lighting Designer

Scottish Chamber Orchestra

Scottish Opera Chorus

Boris Bagattini, Video

Samantha Clarke, Amore, Euridice

Iestyn Davies, Orfeo

Bridie Hooper, Choreography

Circa, Choreography

Susannah Wapshott, Choirmaster / chorus director

The triumph of virtue: Rossini’s Cenerentola in Brisbane

Sandra Bowdler, 29th April

Margarita Gritskova leads a fine ensemble performance of Rossini’s most under-appreciated opera by Opera Queensland.

****1

A Perfect Masterpiece: Glass's The Perfect American in Brisbane

Paul Selar, 20th September

The Perfect American, a fictional account of the final months of Walt Disney’s life, is a visually rhythmic flow of scenic magic on a blended Glass base – gently but harrowingly absorbing.

*****

Stunning acrobatics, a forlorn farewell: Dido and Aeneas in Sydney

Zoltán Szabó, 13th March

Yaron Lifschitz mesmerises from the opening tableaux’s row of candles in his Purcell staging for Opera Australia, featuring Circa, a Brisbane-based circus company.

****1

Total drama in Orpheus and Eurydice at Opera Australia

Jeremy Eccles, 12th January

Man of the circus Yaron Lifschitz gives Orpheus and Euridice the Gesamtkunstwerk treatment in his involving production that arrives from Brisbane.

*****

Fellini goes Baroque with Circa and the ABO

Jeremy Eccles, 19th January

Acrobats flying to the music of Vivaldi and his contemporaries makes for a surprising but highly entertaining combination in this energetic pastiche.

*****

Superhuman skill in Circa's world premiere of Sacre

Sarah Navin, 30th January

The circus mastery, physical brilliance and risk-taking choreography is what makes Circa a stand-out on the international stage – stretching movement capabilities with each electric encounter.

****1

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Roy Westbrook

Roy Westbrook gained a diploma in music history at London University (Morley College) and was for some years the head of music day schools at Oxford University, where he also led music summer schools. After some years leading the University's business school he has returned to music teaching and writing, and recently took part in the Arts in Residence courses on Bruckner, Mahler and Bach He is co-author (with Terry Barfoot) of a history of opera, and has taught day schools on Sibelius in Oxford and elsewhere.

An acrobatic Orpheus and Eurydice at the Edinburgh International Festival