Reviewer: Daniel Shipman
Upstaged Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
We can finally go back inside a theatre! After 15 months of not being able to attend any indoor performances, the atmosphere among the audience at Opera North’s Fidelio is one of anticipation. What the audience lacked in numbers (due to social distancing), it made up for in enthusiasm, with passionate applause as soon as the cast took to the stage.
What the audience lacked in numbers (due to social distancing), it made up for in enthusiasm
Rather than a fully-fledged opera with costuming and set, this was more of a concert performance. In order to maintain social distancing on stage as well as in the audience, the orchestra (under conductor Paul Daniel) were out of the pit and on the stage itself, which allowed for a rare opportunity to appreciate precisely where each strain of music originated from. Between this and the lack of visual distraction, it is so much easier to appreciate Beethoven’s score here, and allow yourself to be swept along with the music.
It is perhaps wise to focus more on the music than understanding the intricacies of the plot, which are pretty absurd at times. Broadly, it follows a woman called Leonore (Rachel Nicholls) who disguises herself as a man called Fidelio and takes up a job as a jailer’s assistant, in order to infiltrate the jail and free her imprisoned husband Florestan (Toby Spence).
The small cast of just seven primary performers are all wonderful to hear live
There are various other elements to the plot, such as a love triangle between another jailer, the jailer’s daughter, and ‘Fidelio’, but these seem strangely disconnected from the main plot and serve more as distractions than anything else. I imagine this is down to the lack of proper staging, which would perhaps have served to glue the whole thing together into a more cohesive whole. Nonetheless, the small cast of just seven primary performers are all wonderful to hear live and they tie in beautifully with the orchestra.
-Daniel Shipman
Opera North: Fidelio will next play at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham on 19 June 2021.