Il Segreto di Susanna/Pagliacci: Opera Holland Park review ★★★★★
One wife has a sneaky cigarette, the other a lover, in an all-Italian double bill about marriage
Alison Langer and David Butt Philip in Pagliacci at Opera Holland Park. Photo: Ali Wright
Of all the many fine music venues in London, there is none where you feel so much part of the production as at Opera Holland Park. Virtually on stage as you find your seat, greeted as a whole audience by OHP's director of opera, James Clutton, and completing the virtual circle that is this performing space and auditorium, ticket-holders are more or less in the show.
In the theatre-set, domestic tragedy Pagliacci, this active presence is more pronounced than ever. Leoncavallo's short opera unfolds in the small-town hall where a group of travelling players are putting on a commedia dell'arte romp about a frisky wife and her lover. But off stage, the players' own personal lives are unravelling, as the husband roots out his wife's infidelity and exacts shocking revenge.
Often the real-life audience is somewhere behind the villagers who flock to see the entertainment. But in Martin Lloyd-Evans's production, we are backstage with the players and looking out with them at the crowd. This means that Canio/Pagliaccio's violent assault on Nedda/Colombina happens in our midst.
Zwakele Tshabalala as Beppe, and the Chorus of Opera Holland Park in Pagliacci. Photo: Ali Wright
OHP, which takes its social responsibilities very seriously, recognises the impact of this, giving thoughtful advice on domestic abuse support services. OHP productions are not floating in a different universe, but rooted in our daily world.
It is a measure of his artistry that tenor David Butt Philip makes a deeply unappealing Canio/Pagliaccio. His famous 'tears of the clown' aria, 'Vesti la giubba', is sung magnificently, but we cannot sympathise with him. Soprano Alison Langer's wholesome Nedda and Harry Thatcher's uniformed lover Silvio are, in contrast, an attractive couple, and who can blame Nedda for wanting a new life when loathsome, elderly predator Tonio (bass-baritone Robert Hayward) is forever breathing down her neck?
While Butt Philip is enjoying an international career, like many singers who have come up through OHP he is loyal to this company – and audience – which played a role in his rise. He sings a lot of Wagner and other heavyweights elsewhere, but this performance made me wish he would do more from the Italian repertoire – he admits to coveting the role of artist and activist Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca. When he sings Pagliaccio on a bigger stage, which he will, be glad that you heard him do it first at Opera Holland Park.
John Savournin as silent butler Sante in Il Segreto di Susanna. Photo: Ali Wright
It was in 2019 that he last appeared in a full-scale OHP production: Tchaikovsky's delectable Iolanta (with the outstanding soprano Natalya Romaniw, yet another OHP protegée). The curtain-raiser on that occasion was John Wilkie's production of Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's Il Segreto di Susanna, which is now paired with this new Pagliacci. It was a fizzing delight then, and it is again, the principals wittily reprising their roles: Richard Burkhard as the suspicious husband of Clare Presland's secretive wife, Susanna, and John Savournin in the silent role as their butler, who furtively shares one vice with Susanna – they smoke cigarettes.
When the truth comes out in Il Segreto, it ends with an enthusiastic dash for the bedroom, for, as many of the audience will know, not all marital rows end in murder. Beautifully decked out in Silk Cut purple by designer takis, it drips with pre-war opulence and style, in sharp contrast to Pagliacci's pinched Forties' look, created by designer Bridget Kimak.
The City of London Sinfonia, under John Andrews in Il Segreto and Francesco Cilluffo in Pagliacci, play like demons as an ensemble and like virtuosi as soloists, whizzed along by two conductors with a gift for storytelling in music. There is so much to relish in this double bill, such as the characterful performance as Beppe in Pagliacci by tenor Zwakele Tshabalala, already familiar to London audiences as the son in Blue and in Marin Alsop's Gospel Messiah, which returns this winter.
Richard Burkhard and Clare Presland in Il Segreto di Susanna. Photo: Ali Wright
But at times the star turn of the evening comes from Opera Holland Park's audience – not us, in the neat rows, but the chorus as on-stage crowd in Pagliacci. Their expectant glee at the upcoming performance turns slowly to horror. A lot of us have felt that in some opera houses, but never at Opera Holland Park.
Il Segreto di Susanna and Pagliacci are sung in Italian with English surtitles. Further performances are on 20, 23, 25, 27, 30 July; 1, 3 August. Click here to book
In the theatre-set, domestic tragedy Pagliacci, this active presence is more pronounced than ever. Leoncavallo's short opera unfolds in the small-town hall where a group of travelling players are putting on a commedia dell'arte romp about a frisky wife and her lover. But off stage, the players' own personal lives are unravelling, as the husband roots out his wife's infidelity and exacts shocking revenge.
Often the real-life audience is somewhere behind the villagers who flock to see the entertainment. But in Martin Lloyd-Evans's production, we are backstage with the players and looking out with them at the crowd. This means that Canio/Pagliaccio's violent assault on Nedda/Colombina happens in our midst.
Zwakele Tshabalala as Beppe, and the Chorus of Opera Holland Park in Pagliacci. Photo: Ali Wright
OHP, which takes its social responsibilities very seriously, recognises the impact of this, giving thoughtful advice on domestic abuse support services. OHP productions are not floating in a different universe, but rooted in our daily world.
It is a measure of his artistry that tenor David Butt Philip makes a deeply unappealing Canio/Pagliaccio. His famous 'tears of the clown' aria, 'Vesti la giubba', is sung magnificently, but we cannot sympathise with him. Soprano Alison Langer's wholesome Nedda and Harry Thatcher's uniformed lover Silvio are, in contrast, an attractive couple, and who can blame Nedda for wanting a new life when loathsome, elderly predator Tonio (bass-baritone Robert Hayward) is forever breathing down her neck?
While Butt Philip is enjoying an international career, like many singers who have come up through OHP he is loyal to this company – and audience – which played a role in his rise. He sings a lot of Wagner and other heavyweights elsewhere, but this performance made me wish he would do more from the Italian repertoire – he admits to coveting the role of artist and activist Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca. When he sings Pagliaccio on a bigger stage, which he will, be glad that you heard him do it first at Opera Holland Park.
John Savournin as silent butler Sante in Il Segreto di Susanna. Photo: Ali Wright
It was in 2019 that he last appeared in a full-scale OHP production: Tchaikovsky's delectable Iolanta (with the outstanding soprano Natalya Romaniw, yet another OHP protegée). The curtain-raiser on that occasion was John Wilkie's production of Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's Il Segreto di Susanna, which is now paired with this new Pagliacci. It was a fizzing delight then, and it is again, the principals wittily reprising their roles: Richard Burkhard as the suspicious husband of Clare Presland's secretive wife, Susanna, and John Savournin in the silent role as their butler, who furtively shares one vice with Susanna – they smoke cigarettes.
When the truth comes out in Il Segreto, it ends with an enthusiastic dash for the bedroom, for, as many of the audience will know, not all marital rows end in murder. Beautifully decked out in Silk Cut purple by designer takis, it drips with pre-war opulence and style, in sharp contrast to Pagliacci's pinched Forties' look, created by designer Bridget Kimak.
The City of London Sinfonia, under John Andrews in Il Segreto and Francesco Cilluffo in Pagliacci, play like demons as an ensemble and like virtuosi as soloists, whizzed along by two conductors with a gift for storytelling in music. There is so much to relish in this double bill, such as the characterful performance as Beppe in Pagliacci by tenor Zwakele Tshabalala, already familiar to London audiences as the son in Blue and in Marin Alsop's Gospel Messiah, which returns this winter.
Richard Burkhard and Clare Presland in Il Segreto di Susanna. Photo: Ali Wright
But at times the star turn of the evening comes from Opera Holland Park's audience – not us, in the neat rows, but the chorus as on-stage crowd in Pagliacci. Their expectant glee at the upcoming performance turns slowly to horror. A lot of us have felt that in some opera houses, but never at Opera Holland Park.
Il Segreto di Susanna and Pagliacci are sung in Italian with English surtitles. Further performances are on 20, 23, 25, 27, 30 July; 1, 3 August. Click here to book
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| What | Il Segreto di Susanna/Pagliacci: Opera Holland Park review |
| Where | Opera Holland Park, Stable Yard, Holland Park, London , W8 6LU | MAP |
| Nearest tube | High Street Kensington (underground) |
| When |
17 Jul 24 – 03 Aug 24, Eight performances |
| Price | £24-£175 |
| Website | Click here for details and booking |