A Midsummer Night's Dream at ENO (2011)
May. 19th, 2011 11:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lovingbothENO had a perfectly good MND a few years ago. Despite me not particularly liking the piece, I went again when it was revived. The set was particularly memorable - it was three different views of a bed, with green sheets and a white pillow. More of that was revealed as it went on.
So what's happened this time? To show the magical woodlands around Athens, the director has set it in... a 1950s British boys school. Everything is grey, from the walls to the playground to the uniforms. For no very good reason, the mythical creatures are the teachers (mostly). There's a total mismatch between what they're singing and what we're watching.
Add the way that they've chosen to have it run for 1hr 45mins before the interval, and I wasn't surprised to see people leaving before then.
It does get better just before the break, and the second half does feature some - gasp - red and yellow as the workmen do their bad play badly very well.
But while the singers (especially the younger ones) and the orchestra got lots of applause, there were lots of people joining me in booing the director and his team. He's done much better than this.
TL;DR - don't go, but if you do, either keep your eyes shut or arrive 90 minutes late.
So what's happened this time? To show the magical woodlands around Athens, the director has set it in... a 1950s British boys school. Everything is grey, from the walls to the playground to the uniforms. For no very good reason, the mythical creatures are the teachers (mostly). There's a total mismatch between what they're singing and what we're watching.
Add the way that they've chosen to have it run for 1hr 45mins before the interval, and I wasn't surprised to see people leaving before then.
It does get better just before the break, and the second half does feature some - gasp - red and yellow as the workmen do their bad play badly very well.
But while the singers (especially the younger ones) and the orchestra got lots of applause, there were lots of people joining me in booing the director and his team. He's done much better than this.
TL;DR - don't go, but if you do, either keep your eyes shut or arrive 90 minutes late.