Giuseppi Verdi
Welsh National Opera
Venue Cymru, Llandudno
October 10th 2024, 2 hrs 45 mins
Rigoletto - power, love and revenge: which of these would be most likely to consume a person? WNO’s passionate production of Verdi’s classic stole the heart of the packed house at Venue Cymru. At a time when funding for this company has become critical and the long term future of its tenure in Llandudno is in doubt, this production should act as a shot in the arm.
Rigoletto has a multi-layered story focusing on the court jester who plays the fool, ridiculing all and sundry; a stunted hunchback who resents both his environment and the character he adopts to survive. He has an abiding love for his innocent daughter, Gilda, and tries to protect her from the hedonistic lifestyle of the Mantuan court.
Overseeing this court is the lustful Duke, who likes nothing more than to humiliate his courtiers by seducing their wife. When Rigoletto joins in the ridicule of a husband, he is cursed by the father of the wife, opening up the prospect of disaster. This comes to pass when the Duke sees Gilda in church and embarks on a mission to make her his.
Adele Thomas's WNO production is excellent. The set is pared back and minimalistic, but the action is fast-paced and raunchy. The courtiers are loud and raucous and pay little attention to the victims they create, who lie or wander listlessly about the set. The story of course is magnificent, but needs strong performances from the leads to make it work. The production doesn't disappoint. The quality of the voices of Raffaele Abete as the Duke, German Enrique Alcantera as Rigoletto and Haegee Lee as Gilda (the latter two stood in for one night only) are rich and evocative and the quartet involving these three and Alyona Abramova as Maddelena is memorable.
The success of any production of Rigoletto depends on the relationship between Rigoletto and Gilda, and here it draws out the overbearing, protective love of Rigoletto and the passion of Gilda, caught between devotion to her father and being enamoured by the Duke. The finale in particular captures the tragic familial love between them.
The portrayal of the Duke comes across as slightly happy-go-lucky as he makes the rounds of the women he fancies, but there has to be a cruel, despotic aspect to a character who can promote ritual humiliation of the sycophants who seek to ingratiate themselves with him. But this doesn't spoil a riveting night of entertainment; long may this standard of production continue at Venue Cymru.
More info and tickets here
