Carte blanche: A muddled Queen of Spades

By Mark Pullinger, 07 June 2015

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“Pushkin’s supernatural tale... becomes a tired assemblage of Alden tropes but is stylishly delivered”

Reviewed at The London Coliseum, London on 6 June 2015

Tchaikovsky, The Queen of Spades (Pique Dame)

English National Opera

Edward Gardner, Conductor

David Alden, Director

Gideon Davey, Set Designer

Peter Hoare, Herman

Giselle Allen, Lisa

Dame Felicity Palmer, The Countess

Nicholas Pallesen, Yeletsky

Gregory Dahl, Tomsky

Catherine Young, Polina

Katie Bird, Masha

Valerie Reid, The Governess

Peter Van Hulle, Chaplitsky

Colin Judson, Chekalinsky

Charles Johnston, Narumov

Wyn Pencarreg, Surin

English National Opera Chorus

English National Opera Orchestra

ENO’s Mahagonny: biting, bleak, brilliantly executed satire

David Karlin, 16th February

Never has Brecht and Weill’s satire on the inhumanity of man to man been render with such utter darkness; Simon O’Neill heads up a superb cast.

*****

Taken for a ride: an energetic revival of Così fan tutte at ENO

Dominic Lowe, 6th February

English National Opera's revival of Phelim McDermott’s popular production is a blend of spectacle with some first-class singing, with Lucy Crowe emphasising her Mozartian credentials.

****1

Cocteau-esque camp: Alden’s Partenope returns to ENO

Mark Valencia, 20th November

Christopher Alden’s Olivier Award-winning production of Handel’s Partenope returns to the Coliseum, but it's the singing that earns the plaudits.

****1

Dead Man Walking at English National Opera: a superb execution

David Karlin, 1st November

Anneliese Miskimmon's ENO production of Jake Heggie and Terence McNally's tale of crime, repentance, compassion and redemption compels from start to finish.

*****

Comedy falls flat in ENO's season opening Cinderella

Mark Valencia, 27th September

Julia Burbach and her designer, Herbert Murauer, are defeated by the wide canyons of the Coliseum stage in their modern-dress Cinderella.

**111

ENO gives Thea Musgrave's Mary, Queen of Scots a worthy performance

Nick Boston, 15th February

Musgrave's powerful depiction of a powerful woman at the mercy of male manipulation receives a strong staging from at ENO.

****1

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

Carte blanche: A muddled Queen of Spades from David Alden at ENO