<<<  <<  -- 3 --  Rex Harley    SUSTAINED INTENSITY

The human characters were no less impressive, Paul Keohone's morose forester anchoring the evening and providing the perfect foil, vocally and in his personality, for the vixen. His drinking companions too -- the Parson (Wynn Pencarreg) and Schoolmaster (Andrew Rees) gave strong performances, lifting their characters neatly out of the realm of mere caricature. Indeed there wasn't a single weak vocal performance, only varying degrees of strength and subtlety; qualities which applied in spades to Mark Saberton's poacher and which made the scene leading to the vixen's death the most powerful and affecting of the evening.

As John Tyrell has observed elsewhere: 'The juxtaposition of old age with spring and its renewal of life is one of the major themes of the opera,' most obviously evidenced in the frequent presence of children on stage, as fox cubs, frogs and other denizens of the woods. And the ten young people involved in this production gave confident and well-judged performances which can only enhance Longborough's reputation for its involvement in educational initiatives.

All in all then, a fine performance and if, perhaps, a qualified triumph, a triumph nonetheless.