We proudly present the latest of three live presentations from this year's Wexford Festival Opera - The Critic by Charles Villers Stanford, with a libretto by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
Watch above from 7.30pm on Saturday October 19th.
About The Critic: Both Stanford and Sheridan were born in Dublin but pursued their careers in England; Sheridan as a prominent playwright and one-time owner of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and Stanford as Professor of Music at the Royal College of Music and the University of Cambridge as well as a composer best remembered for his choral works.The Critic was the penultimate of nine operas by Stanford and considered one of his best, having been well-received initially and later revived by Thomas Beecham.
PROLOGUE
Sneer, the Critic, has been invited to witness the rehearsal of Puff's new play. Dangle, the Composer, welcomes Sneer while Puff is a little late. He eventually arrives, and Hopkins, the harried Under-Prompter, keeps everything moving.
ACT ONE
The First Scene of The Spanish Armada, at Tilbury Fort, introduces Sir Raleigh, Sir Hatton, and the chorus of Knights prepared to fight for the realm. Puff attempts to solve an awkward staging problem of having all these knights on stage but kneeling to swear their oath - we watch as their exit is restaged. Dangle and Sneer question Mr. Puff’s dialogue, which sounds suspiciously similar to lines from Shakespeare.
Next we meet Tilburina (conveniently named for the setting of Tilbury Fort), the amorous heroine of The Spanish Armada. She sings a hilariously hackneyed amorous aria and is corrected for getting her staging wrong. Her governess attempts to console her in her distress, as she pines for her forbidden love, the captured Spaniard Don Ferolo Whiskerandos (who, incidentally is the son of the Spanish Admiral). Tilburina imagines she’s seeing the destruction of his ship at sea, but her father, the Governor, reminds her that she cannot see what is not yet in sight. They argue over the impossibility of her loving this Spaniard, but while the father’s heart softens, the governor in him cannot let this happen.
Next Whiskerandos appears. Tilburina and Whiskerandos share a scene lamenting their doomed love, and they part in preposterous heartbreak as the curtain falls.
Ben McAteer, Oliver Johnston, in The Critic
ACT TWO
Puff introduces a complete change of story and location - for no particularly good reason. In this, a Justice and his wife are reunited with their lost son when he appears as a defendant before his father in court. There’s an entire reunion, everyone faints, and then recovers in happy familial joy.
We then return to Tilbury Fort, where a curious Beefeater arrives and reveals that he, too, loves Tilburina. His aria might be longer, but he’s observed and has to retreat. Next, Lord Burleigh, William Cecil, has a dramatic scena in which he enters, silent, and is seen contemplating all the great problems he faces as adviser to the Queen. This is another comic turn, a surprise from Mr. Puff - we imagine Burleigh might sing, but instead he exits. Hatton and Raleigh return next, lamenting how both of their nieces are also enamoured of Don Whiskerandos. The two nieces enter and get a fast lesson in how to perform a dramatic aside from the exasperated Mr. Puff. The scene proceeds, and at its climax there’s something of a Mexican standoff when the two nieces, their two uncles and the ridiculous Spaniard are all at knife point. The crisis is averted: the Beefeater returns, eventually revealing himself a gentleman in a very fine waistcoat. He and Whiskerandos come to blows, because this Beefeater is the very man who captured Whiskerandos’ ship in the first place. They fight, and Whiskerandos is killed.
But they have to repeat that scene and eventually Whiskerandos leaves in frustration and the Beefeater is left to rehearse alone. Next, the Governor returns to the stage, concerned at what is happening on land and at sea. Thereafter Tilburina reappears driven quite mad by the death of her beloved: she sings of flowers and sadness, before rushing off to jump in the sea.
The opera ends with a happy ending, though: and they all live happily ever after...
Production Team:
CIARÁN McAULEY Conductor
CONOR HANRATTY Director
JOHN COMISKEY Set Designer
MASSIMO CARLOTTO Costume Designer
DANIELE NALDI Lighting Designer
The Cast:
TONY BRENNAN - Lord Burleigh
RORY DUNNE - Governor Of Tilbury Fort + Justice
GYULA NAGY - Earl of Leicester
BEN McATEER - Sir Walter Raleigh
OLIVER JOHNSTON - Sir Christopher Hatton
RORY LYNCH - (COVER) Sir Christopher Hatton
MEILIR JONES - Master of the Horse + Constable
DANE SUAREZ - Don Feolo Wiskerandos
ANDREW HENLEY - Son
AVA DODD - Tilburina
HANNAH O'BRIEN - Confidant + First Niece
CAROLYN HOLT - Justice’s Lady + Second Niece
MARK LAMBERT - Mr. Puff
JONATHAN WHITE - Mr. Dangle
ARTHUR RIORDAN - Mr. Sneer
OLGA CONWAY - Hopkins
Find out more about this year's Wexford Festival Opera here.
Pics: Patricio Cassinoni
