Morning:
14°c
Some fares could fall by more than a third when Oyster is extended to every national rail station in London, it has emerged
More...
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
An opera shed of its parochialism: Allan Clayton as Albert Herring in Sir Peter Hall's sparkling production of Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring
Vintage Glyndebourne, vintage Peter Hall: the latest revival of this classic Albert Herring production, first seen in 1985, shows Britten's comedy at its best. A sparkling cast, crisp direction, John Gunter's imposing set and orchestral playing of bright clarity made an eloquent case for this sexually mixed-up work about English parish life.
Maupassant provides the original story but Eric Crozier's libretto is pure Suffolk parochial. No virgin lass is pure enough for May Queen, so gauche, embarrassed Albert Herring (the beguiling Allan Clayton) is chosen instead. With his coronation comes drunken liberty and a night of sexual awakening. Tragedy is narrowly averted and everyone is shocked to their boots.
When Herring was premiered at Glyndebourne in 1947, John Christie, the festival's founder, observed: "This isn't our sort of thing, y'know."
Written by a covert homosexual to a libretto laden with double entendres, the opera left many uneasy. Was it mawkish light romance or gay shocker? Britten's scathing portrayal of a village hierarchy dominated by priggish Lady Billows was too close to the bone for some of Glyndebourne's own aristocratic patrons.
Hall's warm-hearted production robustly grasps the nettle.
The opening country house interior amusingly resembles Glyndebourne itself. In Gunter's designs, every detail of Edwardian life is celebrated: Mrs Herring's greengrocer shop, the May Day marquee draped with flags and floral bunting, boys in knickerbockers, girls in straw boaters. Visually all fascinates and delights.
The excellent ensemble cast, with Gwynne Geyer, Susan Gorton and Frances McCafferty as the trio of women d'un certain age, had two of Hall's original cast members: John Graham-Hall, once Albert but now grown up to be Mayor, and Allan Opie, formerly wide-boy Sid, now Mr Gedge the smug vicar. The new Sid, Jared Holt, had saucy charm, with his Nancy (Louise Poole) almost alone in human sympathy.
In the past this opera has made me squirm. Two factors have changed my response. First, thanks to surtitles, Crozier's undervalued, witty libretto has come into its own, providing bristling counterpoint to the stage action. The other is passage of time. The England Britten lampooned was outside on his Aldeburgh doorstep, immediate and discomfiting.
Now, post-Windrush, post-Thatcher, that world is mere historical anachronism, replaced by new social hierarchies and divisions. As a result, the opera has shed its parochialism and become universal.
Gerard Korsten conducted the dense, allusive score with a vigour that confirmed, had we ever doubted, that Albert Herring is a masterpiece.
• Until 19 July. Information: 01273 813813.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
