Morning:
8°c
Latest: Gordon Brown apologises for his poor handwriting and for misspelling the name of a dead soldier in a letter to the young man’s mother
More...
With a single dessert and just two glasses of wine our bill was kept in check - but the effort of doing so was not much fun
Babbo
Film
This is a film with beautiful performances and a visual style that urges you towards reflection
Bright Star
Theatre
Although the first half of Kwei-Armah’s production is pacy, funny and intelligent, the energy level then drops off
Seize The Day
I loved this film from start to finish. Take the girlfriend, tell your mum - I'd see it again tomorrow and will buy the dvd.
I saw this last night and can't remember the last time I was so moved in the theatre.
I have been to many of London's so-called best Japanese restaurants and none have been as good as the food that I've had at Aqua Kyoto
London,
Nick Kimberley's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Bill Bankes-Jones.
Cast: Tete A Tete Opera, Tim Murray (cond), Chroma, Amy Carson (Amy Robsart), Andrew Rees (Robert Dudley, Earl Of Leicester), Robert Gildon (Cecil), Roderick Earle (Walsingham), Damian Thantrey (Toby), Phyllis Cannan (Catherine), Tim Meacock (des)
Description: Bill Bankes-Jones directs Iain Pears and Philip Cashian's Elizabethan murder mystery. Conducted by Tim Murray, with Amy Carson as Amy Robsart and Andrew Rees as her unfaithful husband, Robert Dudley, Earl Of Leicester.
Trains: Tube: Hammersmith 
Phone: 0208237 1111
Website: www.riversidestudios.co.uk
The Cumnor Affair: an Elizabethan murder mystery
It’s opera’s oldest riddle: what comes first, words or music? The answer is usually “Music, of course” but opera without a story and the words to tell it is meagre stuff indeed.
The reign of Elizabeth I has provided opera with stories aplenty. The latest piece to mine this rich narrative vein is Philip Cashian’s The Cumnor Affair, described as “an Elizabethan murder mystery”. The Earl of Leicester, Elizabeth’s favourite courtier, is inconveniently married to Amy Robsart. When she dies in dubious circumstances, Leicester has to choose between fidelity to his wife’ s memory and devotion to his queen. Sundry plotters render the choice impossible.
Iain Pears’s libretto tells the story conversationally but not too plainly, and Cashian’s music responds with no little vigour. Much of the character is within the tiny orchestra (in this instance, Chroma, half-visible throughout), with wind instruments carrying the mystery, percussion the menace. If the voices aren’t always as colourful, perhaps Cashian’s writing for them is just too even, too plainly syllabic.
Still, there are moments when passions fly, especially when Amy Carson reveals the wronged woman’s broken heart. Her voice, although slightly pinched at the top, carries a wealth of feeling. Elizabeth herself (Sibylla Melenberg) is an eerie presence, saying nothing but observing everything from within a gilt frame above the stage. Smaller roles are well taken, and if Bill Bankes-Jones’s production for Tête á Tête doesn’t quite make a virtue out of its low budget, it delivers the action clearly enough.
Until Sunday (020 8237 1111).
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
