Fearful fantasies: Thousand Furs

By Charlotte Valori, 10 August 2015

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Reviewed at Kings Place: Hall One, London on 6 August 2015

Tafreshipour, The Doll Behind the Curtain

Betteridge, Thousand Furs

Tête à Tête

William Petter, Conductor

Rachel Szmukler, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Rhys Bowden, Mehrdad

Maya Sapone, Bita

Melanie Lodge, Mother

Thomas Humphreys, Father

Lily Scott, Giselle

Steven East, Tombeau

Kate Smith, Maria

Oliver Hunt, King

Rebecca Lea, Queen

Roderick Morris, Prince

Rebecca Anderson, Cook

Jonathan Ainscough, Announcer

Life lessons at Tête à Tête

Charlotte Valori, 9th August

Small, portable and zany children's opera The Fisherman and his Wife gets an accomplished outing at Tête à Tête, while Storm's Eye leaves much to be desired.

***11

Brilliance five ways: Hogarth's Stages at the Royal College of Music

Charlotte Valori, 16th May

Five short, exciting new works created in response to images by William Hogarth, showcasing a plethora of upcoming talent which already has lots to say about love, life, unkind critics and rave culture.

*****

Anna Netrebko shines in Vienna’s timeless Tosca

Laura Servidei, 18th April

In a world where opera productions often stray into the abstract, the Wiener Staatsoper’s Tosca offers a refreshing return to tradition – and Anna Netrebko delivers a splendid performance.

****1

Weinberg’s The Passenger at Dutch National Opera

Clare Varney, 17th April

Tobias Kratzer's 2024 Munich production makes its way to Amsterdam, proving that Weinberg's opera has the power to transfix.

****1

Frauenliebe und -sterben: Kratzer’s triple bill at Staatsoper Hamburg

Mengguang Huang, 15th April

Director Tobias Kratzer engineers a haunting pasticcio of Schumann, Bartók and Zemlinsky, tracing the domestic sphere’s shift from romantic surrender to the blood-soaked secrets of a century-spanning house.

****1

Diamonds and steel: Anna Pirozzi rules in La Scala’s Turandot revival

Laura Servidei, 12th April

Visually enchanting and meticulously staged, this centenary revival confirms Livermore's production as a modern classic.

****1

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Charlotte Valori

Charlotte Valori read Classics at Christ Church, Oxford. As a classicist, her main interest is Greek tragedy and its reception by later cultures, which has led to a continuing passion for theatre and opera. Charlotte reviews for several online magazines, and won the Bachtrack Opera Award 2015 for Best Written English Review. Follow her on Twitter @operissima.

Fearful fantasies: Thousand Furs and The Doll Behind the Curtain at Tête à Tête