Review: English Touring Opera in Macbeth, York Theatre Royal, March 29

A BRUTALIST bunker, men armed with AK-47s, and witches in First World War nurses’ uniforms: James Dacre transplants the action of Verdi’s Macbeth into an Orwellian dystopia.

His new production for the English Touring Opera made its rounds at York Theatre Royal in an intelligently staged performance that brought the political themes of the opera to the fore.

Under the baton of Gerry Cornelius, ETO’s compact orchestra injected a certain rawness to Verdi’s emotive score. Regrettably, however, the union of music and text was hampered by Andrew Porter's awkward English translation.

As the protagonist, company regular Grant Doyle was a technically sound but dramatically unconvincing Macbeth. Rather, it was Madeleine Pierard who emerged as the real star. The soprano was a surprising choice for Lady Macbeth, particularly given Verdi’s famous stipulation for a singer whose voice was "hard, stifled, and dark", but Pierard’s customarily flawless vocal performance did not detract from her potent characterisation of this domineering and psychologically complex heroine.

Compelling, too, was Amar Muchhala’s performance as Macduff. He brought dramatic nuance to the character, notwithstanding the somewhat tired "grief-stricken slave to the bottle" trope. ETO’s chorus were also in particularly fine form, never sacrificing their dramatic integrity in favour of technical accuracy – they can do both.

This welcome return of the English Touring Opera only reinforced their reputation as a company to be reckoned with. They can sing and act with the best of them, and any future performances in York are not to be missed.

Review by Charlotte Armstrong