Falstaff: an environmentally aware opera that 'sparkles'

At the start of Opera North's "vibrant" new staging of Verdi's late comedy "Falstaff", you might wonder if you've slipped into an episode of "Only Fools and Horses", said Richard Morrison in The Times. Characters are dressed like 1980s market traders, the set is filled with "random bric-a-brac", and centre-stage is a clapped-out old caravan. "But a noble purpose lurks behind the tat." As part of Opera North's drive to be carbon neutral by 2030, the entire set has been recycled from past shows or from "found" materials. Herne's Oak in Act III, for example, is a "beautiful assembly of deer antlers" gathered from the grounds of Harewood House. If the show were "dull", you might dismiss this as virtue signalling. "Happily, it sparkles."

Olivia Fuchs's production, which tours to Newcastle, Nottingham and Salford following its run in Leeds, is charming, agreed Nicholas Kenyon in The Daily Telegraph, with nothing dour about its sustainability theme. On the contrary, Falstaff's hand-me-down caravan proves a "colourful showcase" for Henry Waddington's "effervescent" performance as the extrovert knight. His is the "standout characterisation" of this show, which is "wonderfully articulated and crisply sung", with every word of Amanda Holden's witty English translation made clear. As Alice Ford, Kate Royal's voice "may not now have all its former lustre, but its range is unimpaired", and she delivers a vivacious performance that is "totally winning". 

It's remarkable, said Robert Beale on The Arts Desk, that in his late 70s Verdi composed a comedy opera that is so "wonderfully lean" and vibrant. Garry Walker conducts the fizzing score with superlative skill, combining an "almost soufflé-esque lightness" with delicacy, poise, and some "highly spirited tempi". The principal parts are performed with panache, said Sarah Noble in The Guardian, and there's "strong singing and dead-on comic timing" from all the cronies and hangers-on. "Its carbon footprint might be small, but this 'Falstaff' has a huge smile on its face."

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Leeds Grand Theatre to 25 October, then touring to 18 November; operanorth.co.uk. Rating ****