Astonishing Vocal and Physical Power

Britten's 'Death in Venice',
heard by MIKE WHEELER

If there were any doubts that Britten's Death in Venice is anything less than a shattering masterpiece, Yoshi Oida's production should have cleared them away once and for all.

First staged at the 2007 Aldeburgh Festival, and directed for Opera North's revival by Rob Kearley (Theatre Royal, Nottingham, UK, 21 November 2013), its austere stylisation pointed up links with the Church Parables and their emergence from Britten's encounter with Japanese Noh theatre. The plain box set, simply furnished, was no picture-postcard Venice, more a Venice of the mind that rightly left Britten's evocative score to provide the required sense of place...

BENJAMIN BRITTEN

OPERA NORTH

RICHARD FARNES

ALAN OKE

JAMES LAING

NOTTINGHAM THEATRE ROYAL

NOTTINGHAM

UNITED KINGDOM