Review: Opera North: Carmen at The Lowry

Image credit: Tristram Kenton

Reviewer: Daniel Shipman

Upstaged Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

For those not familiar, Bizet’s Carmen follows the tumultuous love life of its titular character. In this production, she is the show-stealing head dancer at a nightclub – a clever and well-executed solution to the dated portrayal of gypsies in the original libretto which is problematic in a modern context. She begins an affair with Don Juan (Sébastien Guèze), who ditches his childhood sweetheart and deserts military service for her. Soon though, her affections wane and she moves on to Escamillo (Gyula Nagy), who is rendered as a cowboy in this production with hugely entertaining results. The opera ends after, heartbroken at falling out of favour, Don Juan murders Carmen. 

If you ever want to prove to someone that opera doesn’t have to be stuffy, this is the production that will do it.

Sexy and seedy in equal measure, this production of transfers the action to ‘an unspecified border town, close to our own time’, according to the programme. In reality, this is a production that intentionally chooses a drifting, almost hallucinatory aesthetic. It begins in a seedy nightclub frequented by soldiers and populated by strippers, but as Carmen’s affections drift from militaristic Don Josè to showy Escamillo, the setting gradually changes from seedy nightclub to campy rodeo.  

Image credit: Tristram Kenton

The women of the production are dressed up to the nines whilst the men are slimy and over-sexed. The whole thing is fuelled by copious amounts of cocaine. It’s basically a Friday night out in Spinningfields, but they’re singing Bizet rather than Oasis. 

As Don José, Sebastian Guèze channels Tom Cruise in Top Gun, all cocksure vivacity and sunglasses worn indoors. Unfortunately, his lack of chemistry with Williams’ Carmen is the one thing holding this production back from perfection. 

Chrystal E Williams’ portrayal of Carmen has won acclaim since premiering in 2021, and it’s easy to see why. A powerful, sultry presence who never fails to light up the stage, I couldn’t take my eyes off her from the second she walks on stage and delivers the iconic Habanera. She is more than ably supported by Frasquita (Amy Freston) and Mercedes (Helen Évora) who claim some of the top comedy highlights of the evening.  

Image credit: Tristram Kenton

Chrystal E Williams’ portrayal of Carmen has won acclaim since premiering in 2021…a powerful, sultry presence…

I could write pages about this production, there is so much I haven’t covered here – Lillas Pastia (Anders Duckworth) being cast as a non-binary, ballet-dancing cow wrangler sounds absurd on paper but feels inspired in context. Escamillo has a fringed suit covered in fairy lights. Balloons cover the stage during the Toreador Song. It’s completely insane, but somehow it works perfectly. If you ever want to prove to someone that opera doesn’t have to be stuffy, this is the production that will do it. 

-Daniel Shipman

Carmen next plays at Theatre Royal, Nottingham on 18 March 2022; meanwhile, you can catch Opera North’s Rigoletto at The Lowry until Saturday 12 March 2022.