Hackney Empire
291 Mare Street,
London,
E8 1EJ
After an initial disastrous experience at the English National Opera in 2016, the husband has been quite adamant against watching another live performance. So I've had to be content with watching recordings on Sky Arts of some of the performances that I was interested in. However, after visiting Opera: Passion, Power and Politics at the Victoria & Albert Museum in January this year, he was willing to give it another chance.
He said that he would be open to watching a live performance as long as it was in English and had subtitles and was preferably a comedy. His other addendum was that he didn't want to have to get 'all dressed up' for it. So I had been keeping my eyes open to find a live opera in London that fulfilled these criteria.
So I was very excited when I saw that the English Touring Opera was taking The Marriage of Figaro on tour, and would be playing at Hackney Empire on 28th February and 3rd of March.
Since I was familiar with this comedy, I knew this would be a much better introduction into Opera for him. Set in a single day, Figaro and Susanna have to overcome every obstacle put in their way by Count Almaviva and his cronies before they can finally be united as husband and wife.
We braved the melting snow and got to the theatre early and had time to admire the stunning building. We didn't have time to go to the Empire Bar next door, but there was a concession stand behind the seating area in the theater, where we were able to get some hot black coffee and chips.
When we got to our seats, we realised that the online chart was a bit misleading, what I thought were forward facing double seats were dual sideways facing seats with a table between them. What made it even more awkward was when another couple said they had the same seats and we figured out that the seat numbers were duplicated. Fortunately someone from management came over and sorted it out, giving them a different table and we could stretch out more comfortably to watch the production sideways.
The hall itself is beautiful and its one of the loveliest stage curtains that I've seen. The sets by Neil Irish were in a lovely Wedgwood blue and moved around a bit to keep up with the change in settings. The ensemble directed by Christopher Stark was lovely.
The beginning was a bit disconcerting, with the music being accompanied by actors preparing for a play, rolling clothes lines along and taking selfies. But once the actual performance began, things settled down and we were able to enjoy the rest of it.
The absolute stand out performances for me were Ross Ramgobin as Figaro (especially when he continues singing as he performs push-ups) and Katherine Aitken as Cherubino. Rachel Redmond as Susanna, Dawid Kimberg as Count Almaviva and Nadine Benjamin as his Countess were also very good.
It was a good evening well spent and worth the multiple train changes in the freezing cold. The husband agreed that he did enjoy this performance much more, but given a choice, he would still prefer theatre any day.
The Marriage of Figaro tours to Truro, Poole, Chester, Buxton, Guildford, Snape, Cambridge, Cheltenham, Canterbury, Norwich, Bromley, Sheffield, Durham, Perth, Exeter, Leicester, York, Stoke-on-Trent, Ulverston and Blackpool until 9 June. Check dates and book on the English Touring Opera Website.
