This is the imaginative starting point for director Louisa Muller’s lively take on Platée, a cranky opera by the 18th-century French composer Jean-Phillippe Rameau. We don’t hear much Rameau in the opera house. His rococo storylines and madcap music make his works less readily accessible than those of Handel, his exact contemporary, who is nowadays as big at at the box office as when he was living in Georgian Mayfair.
But Rameau brings his own rewards, notably in quirky orchestral effects that make you sit up in wonder and ask, how did he do that? At Garsington Opera, early music specialists the English Concert are directed by Paul Agnew, the singer turned conductor who is an absolute authority on Platée – he has sung the title role many times.
Crisis management at Olympus TV. Photo: Julian Guidera
But who or what is this Platée, a female character sung by a man? In this production she is recruited to win a knockout contest as Jupiter’s next conquest, beating off a field of indisputable – and swiftly disgruntled – beauties. Her triumph is unexpected – Platée is literally pond life, a greenish water sprite with a taste for lurid apparel who comports herself in a distinctly original way.
These characteristics appeal to us in the audience, but alarm all around her. However, her new role as Jupiter's latest conquest has been rigged in order to allay Juno's jealous fears. The goddess has been sent on a wild goose chase, but is destined to see her husband's absurd and unthreatening new squeeze upon her return, so that Jupiter and Juno can go back on air.
At heart this is a cruel opera. Platée is destined to appear ridiculous because of her unconventional looks, outlandish outfits, lack of savoir faire and delusion. We can feel uncomfortable about the values that write her off. But Muller's production skilfully leans in to Platée, her handlers appearing crude and boorish in comparison.
Platée (Samuel Boden) baffles TV executives Henry Waddington and Robert Murray. Photo: Julian Guidera
The master stroke is the casting of tenor Samuel Boden as Platée. With his neat physique and charming voice, he gives us a Platée who is more likeable than anyone else on stage, however entertained we may be by the rest. Among these, flashy Jupiter is scrumptiously sung by a swaggering bass-baritone Ossian Huskinson, a Garsington regular who shortly joins the Royal Opera's prestigious, star-making Jette Parker scheme. Expect, and hope, to hear lots more of him.
Old hands tenor Robert Murray and bass-baritone Henry Waddington are joined by baritone Jonathan McGovern, jointly fixing everything in a variety of roles. But also stars of the evening are the very youthful chorus, now scurrying around the studio with clipboards and lanyards, now letting rip with a variety of delaying tactics as the wedding hour approaches.
Muller has done everything possible to make the opera visually entertaining, with the help of this very game cast, eight inexhaustible dancers, movement director Rebecca Howell and the sizzling and witty set and costume designs of Christopher Oram. Who could not love Platée in her pea-soup tutu and peacock tail? And she can walk on her hands!
La Folie (Mireille Asselin) and dancers. Photo: Julian Guidera
A slim plot with a good deal of noodling about gods and wine becomes an action-packed evening with so many dramatic effects it is hard to keep up. Characters pile in and out, among them Mireille Asselin's entertaining popstrel La Folie, and the action slows a little as the marriage is delayed, as it must be. But overall this is a lavish, hugely entertaining show teeming with ideas.
A few fields away from the summer opera house, Garsington has just christened its own spectacular studios, looking for all the world from the outside like an Elizabethan barn. Inside there is every facility for artists plus two full-sized stages.
It's hard to overestimate the confidence that such a workplace brings to artists who are used to shivering in unlovely old halls. Audiences can look forward to more productions on the scale of Platée. Still to come this year, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Verdi's Un Giorno di Regno. Coming up in 2025, Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore, Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades, Handel's Rodelinda and Beethoven's Fidelio. Can't wait...
Platée is sung in French with English surtitles. Further performances are on 31 May, 6, 8, 10, 22, 30 June. Click here for tickets
| What | Platée, Garsington Opera review |
| Where | Garsington Opera, Wormsley Estate , Stokenchurch, HP14 3YG | MAP |
| Nearest tube | Marylebone (underground) |
| When |
29 May 24 – 30 Jun 24, Six performances remaining, including long dinner interval |
| Price | £220-£255 including voluntary donation |
| Website | Click here for details and booking |