The Fairy Queen

The Fairy Queen is not Purcell's masterpiece, but it is charming, fun and delightful with beautiful music. This performance however doesn't do it justice and doesn't live up to the quality of the work. The music of course is great, and is performed with energy and nuanced and conducted with brisk authority. The dancing is done with finesse, intimacy and a sense of fun, campy occasionally it is but it is performed so well it doesn't matter. The singing is wonderful. Yvonne Kenny has a voice of beautiful bright lyricism, while Janis Kelly also sings splendidly. Michael Chance's counter-tenor voice has always been sharply pointed and unique, and complete with intelligent phrasing his performance here is no exception and he acts movingly and with ease and command too. Simon Rice is outstanding in the dancing role of Puck, while Thomas Randle's Oberon is athletic and commanding and Jonathan Best ensures that his duet with Chance is humorous in a priceless sort of way. As much as I love Richard Van Allan, his Claggart in Billy Budd has few equals, he is past his best sadly, his voice is not as powerful as it was and it is not always well-supported. What was really disappointing was the visuals and the staging. The costumes are a mix of traditional and modern, and it was a mix that doesn't go very best. It often looked ugly as well. The sets also were bare and colourless, while the staging is weird, too campy and often too busy as well. The Fairy Queen has a theme of love-loss, and it was not emphasised enough here, and when it was it got lost amidst the silly social agenda the production has. All in all, not terrible but really left wanting. 5/10 Bethany Cox