Our choice of opera for 2023 was the well loved classic, Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo. This hard hitting piece was a big hit amongst our members despite the complexity of the music and the challenges it presented.
Over the course of 11 months of preparation our participants experienced a rigorous exploration of the themes of the work, often prompting discussions on important social issues which might normally be swept under the carpet.
Pagliacci is the story of Nedda, a woman trapped in an abusive relationship who dreams of living free like a bird. She finds her opportunity to escape with one of the men from the village who fancies himself the hero of her story. But, at the same time manipulates her into elopement through claims that he will die if she rejects him.
Meanwhile, Nedda is also pursued by the bitter and unloved Tonio. Tonio is traditionally disfigured in some way, but since times have moved on since the opera was first conceived in the 19th century, we chose to focus more on the ugly nature of his character.
Ultimately Tonio betrays Nedda. Since he cannot have Nedda he decides that no-one should, and tells her husband of her betrayal. In the last moments of the work, Nedda and her 'lover' are murdered. A sort of dark dark joke, considering that spectators might be expecting an opera named 'the clowns' to be somewhat jolly!
Our director for this project was Jamie Whitfield, who said:
"I felt that the most important thing was to tell Nedda's story, and to highlight the very real danger and entrapment many women face on a daily basis. The tragic ending of the opera presents a stark message, that domestic violence is very real, and that in the modern world where incel culture and far right ideology is on the rise, we must keep talking about those who will suffer because of it."
The orchestra was conducted by Desmond Lau, who rose to the occasion with a quiet confidence that grounded the entire performance. Players were drawn from local orchestras and a reduced version of the score was used to suit the scale of venue and the small number in the cast.
Some singers performed their very first roles through the production, but for almost all of the singers it was their first complete role in a foreign language.
Overall the project was immensely successful, and we even had some first time opera-goers in attendance. On the last day we performed twice, and while returning from fetching some food from Westgate Road before the final chorus, we saw several people dancing down the street and excitedly singing 'opera' to each other.
One audience member even came up with the most extraordinary view that the experience made him feel like he had 'drunk a can of paint'. Opera was not at all what he had expected and in fact the whole experience was beyond anything he could have imagined!
We'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who turned out to support us. To Summerhill Bowling Club for hosting us, our orchestral players, and everyone who made this event an incredible experience all round.
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