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New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,
Fiona Maddocks's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Chen Shi-Zheng.
Cast: Sophie Bevan (Love), Orange Blossom Dance Company, Indonesia (dancers), English National Opera, Laurence Cummings (cond), Walt Spangler (des), Kate Royal (Poppea), Tim Mead (Ottone), Christine Rice (Nerone), Doreen Curran (Ottavia), Lucy Crowe (Drusilla), Robert Lloyd (Seneca), Christopher Gillett (Arnalta), William Berger (Valletto), Joana Seara (Damigella), Katherine Manley (Fortune), Jane Harrington (Virtue)
Description: Chen Shi-Zheng directs a new production of Monteverdi's baroque masterpiece of adultery and ambition in Imperial Rome. Conducted by Laurence Cummings, with Kate Royal as Poppea, Christine Rice as Nerone, Tim Mead as Ottone and Lucy Crowe as Drusilla.
Trains: Tube: Leicester Square/Charing Cross 
, Tube / Bus: 3, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 23, 24, 29, 53, 77a, 88, 91, 139 
Phone: 0871911 0200
Website: www.eno.org
Email: access@eno.org
In the sin bin: Doreen Curran as Nero's wife, Empress Ottavia, travels on a pumpkin
One outstanding performance made this new staging of Monteverdi's 1643 opera, The Coronation of Poppea, just about worthwhile: the veteran bass Robert Lloyd, who has not sung with English National Opera for 30 years, gave a first class account of Seneca, the philosopher, who slits his wrists and dies in a bath at Emperor Nero's bidding.
Never mind that Lloyd had to wear green wellies and push a lawnmower in true Roman Stoic fashion. It was that kind of an event.
The Chinese director and choreographer Chen Shi-Zheng, who staged Monteverdi's Orfeo for the company last year, has returned with another baffling enterprise in which the Indonesian Orange Blossom Dance Company shimmy and jive at any opportunity, appearing when you don't need them like the Policeman's Chorus or the Spanish Inquisition. At times they turn into benthic beauties, scampering across the sea floor.
Unaccountably, in Walt Spangler's design, the action takes place underwater, which may be deeply Freudian for Monteverdi's sexiest opera but this is open to debate. At the end they become dragonflies.
A snorkeller flip-flops across the stage on a harness. Liquid video imagery attracts attention when you long for stillness. Ottavia (Doreen Curran) travels everywhere by white pumpkin, a seasonal gesture perhaps.
Elizabeth Caitlin Ward's costumes, witty, opalescent and translucent up-to-the-minute creations, are one of the evening's strong points.
Cheerful to report, ENO has pulled together a strong cast of highly promising young British singers, including Lucy Crowe and Tim Mead, elegantly conducted from the harpsichord by Laurence Cummings.
The problem was that they all seemed to be in the wrong roles, with none really bringing Monteverdi's spellbinding, and outrageously immoral last opera alive. All were made to strip off (most of) their kit, which they did nicely if repetitively.
As Poppea, Kate Royal has a pretty voice and managed to look hazily and enviably like Liz Hurley modelling her latest line of beachwear. But the full depravity and allure of Nero's mistress - described by Tacitus as having "every asset except goodness" - as yet eludes her.
As a gamine Nerone, Anna Grevelius showed huge talent, even though the casting was not ideal, and works better sung by a man. A five-strong continuo, lucky to be on dry land, made some of the loveliest, most sensuous sounds of the evening.
Until 6 November. Information: 0870 145 0200. (BBC Radio 3, 10 November).
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Thanks Fiona for Benthic.
At 58 I was the youngest person in my group. The walking stick brigade loved it. More buzz on the coach than usual.
If the movement and actions go with the music and the emotions a producer can get away with anything.
- Richard, Bristol, UK
Hot stuff and beautiful singing - but what amazed me most is how people can sing with full support being suspended in mid-air! I really admire their courage! Also, a tiny bit baffled by the couple copulating in the same bath where a newly dead body of Seneca is lying - I mean one gets carried away sometimes but surely not to the extent of not noticing a bloodied corpse in your bath... However, on the whole hugely entertaining performance.
- Olga, London, UK
