Freudian slip: Handel’s Tamerlano recast as Trumpian tantrums

Jonathan Brown (Leone)

James Laing (Tamerlano) and Nardus Williams (Asteria)

Jake Ingbar (Andronico) and Nardus Williams (Asteria)

Benjamin Hulett (Bajazet)

James Laing (Tamerlano)

By Mark Pullinger, 27 March 2026

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“Nardus Williams was born to sing Handel and her pearly soprano shone brightly here”

Reviewed at Shoreditch Town Hall, London on 26 March 2026

Handel, Tamerlano

Laurence Cummings, Conductor

Orpha Phelan, Director

Madeleine Boyd, Designer

Matthew Haskins, Lighting Designer

Academy of Ancient Music

James Laing, Tamerlano

Benjamin Hulett, Bajazet

Nardus Williams, Asteria

Jake Ingbar, Andronico

Kitty Whately, Irene

Jonathan Brown, Leone

Orpha Phelan delivers farcical Donizetti at the Wexford Festival Opera

Andrew Larkin, 20th October

Superlative singing, hilarious antics and an energetic production make Donizetti's Le Convenience ed inconvenience an exhilarating success.

****1

A magnificent Bohème at Irish National Opera

Andrew Larkin, 20th November

Orpha Phelan directs a terrific cast of singers in an inventive and faithful production making for an evening to remember.

*****

Riotous nonsense and royal nuptials: Lalla-Roukh at Wexford

Roy Westbrook, 22nd October

Orpha Phelan has fun staging Félicien David’s opéra comique, moving the action from Kashmir and Samarkand to Leila O’Rourke’s Tea Emporium.

****1

An entertaining Cenerentola from Irish National Opera

Andrew Larkin, 10th November

Excellent soloists, inventive sets and fine direction from Sheil and Phelan makes for an entertaining Cenerentola at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre Dublin.

***11

Impressive singing in Longborough Fidelio

David Truslove, 24th June

Strong casting but intrusive direction makes this Fidelio a bizarrely intriguing experience, salvaged by some memorable singing.

***11

Opera North's intensely dramatic Billy Budd

Richard Wilcocks, 18th October

Opera North's production of Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd, directed by Orpha Phelan, is a tense psychological drama which puts the emphasis on issues of democracy and attitudes to dictatorship.

****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.

Freudian slip: Tamerlano recast as Trumpian tantrums at the London Handel Festival