BWW Review: The second opera in Irrational Theatre's double bill is the love triangle (plus one) of Pagliacci, the tale of the clown whose sexpot wife, Nedda, has turned too many heads in the travelling troupe. With echoes of Hamlet's play within a play, the evening's Commedia dell'arte show veers so close to real life, that Pagliaccio/Canio takes off his mask, takes matters into his own hands and tragedy on stage becomes tragedy in real life. Again, there's just David Podd on piano for the music, but he has a chorus to work with this time and singers who appear more relaxed in letting their voices dip and soar, filling the air, thrilling us in a way unique to boutique operas, so close are we to the performers. I've seen upwards of 25 such productions now and the impact of classically trained singers working (at times) within touching distance remains undiminished. Samantha Green's Nedda appears oblivious to her fate, transfixed by her lover, Silvio (a dashing Herbie Hill-Reid), and blind to the scheming of Tonia (Katy Bingham-Best in a gender flipped role), whose infatuation is met with a fatal disdain. A menacing, muscular Randy Nichol delivers his setpiece "Vesti la giubba", as he prepares to play his part in events anchored in both fiction and reality, with some skill, but I missed the strings and this most powerful of arias felt a little undercooked as a result. …in Italian (supported by very clear surtitles) this is about as accessible as the art form gets and, it has to be said, only opera's reputation for being difficult, demanding or posh stands in the way of anyone wishing to dip a toe in and try the temperature. At £20, it's fantastic value and an introduction to a world that can give anyone who enjoys theatre many years of entertainment. Pop along and see if you don't agree.

Original Cast for Grimeborn 2016                                         Cast for Kings Head 2018

Randy Nicol - Canio                                                                  Randy Nicol

Katy Bingham Best - Tonia                                                     Katy Bingham Best

Pete Martin - Peppe                                                                 Joao Valido Vaz

Silvio  - Herbie Hill Reid                                                         Alejandro Montanya Lopez

Nedda - Samantha Green                                                        Samantha Green

Cast Sheet https://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/dalston-area-guide

The Telephone, or L'Amour à trois is an English-language comic opera in one act by Gian Carlo Menotti . Ben bearing a gift, comes to visit Lucy at her apartment; he wants to propose to her before he leaves on a trip. Despite his attempts, Lucy is occupied with interminable conversations on the telephone.

Lucy – Samantha Green (Soprano)
Ben Sebastian Charlesworth (Baritone)
Additional non-speaking parts – Katy Bingham-Best
Use with kind permission of G Scrimner Limted

Cox and Box (The Long-Lost Brothers) is a one act comic opera with libretto by F. C Bernard and music by Arthur Sullivan. It was Sullivan’s first successful comic opera. The story concerns a landlord who lets a room to two lodgers, one who works at night and the other who works during the day. When one of them has a day off, they meet each other in the room. Tempers Flare. They discover they are both betrothed to the same women...will it end happily?

Cox – Sebastian Charlesworth (Baritone)
Box – Joseph O’Gorman (Tenor)
Bouncer – Roger Mullis (Countertenor)

Cycle is a short comic play by Joanna Norland, which takes a real life neighbourly dispute over 'right of way' as its inspiration

Stuart – Joseph O’Gorman
Julia – Samantha Green
Miranda/ Veronica – Katy Bingham-Best
Singer Kieran Cummins

Produced by irrational theatre
Director and Designer – Paula Chitty
Lighting and Costumes - Paula Chitty
MD and rehearsal pianist Peter Jones
Pianist – Odette Cotton
Stage Manager/ Lighting/ Sound operation - Kate Reynolds

This show has also been performed at The White Bear Theatre. London. The Maltings Theatre. Hertfordshire and Kings Langley.

ABOUT THE SHOW

A good marriage is a fusion between opera and new writing says Irrational Irrational Theatre will be bringing their latest show Fun at the Festival: A fusion of comic opera and Fresh New writing to The Arcola Grimeborn festival on 24th, 25th and 26th August This ground-breaking production will offer audiences a fusion of opera and new playwriting and is the latest in the company’s quest to create fresh, original, innovative staged entertainment. The director and designer is Paula Chitty, who was responsible for last  year’s well-received Il Pagliaci by Leoncavallo. Irrational  productions are always hugely creative, inventive and enjoyable and this show will be no different. Paula said: “We’re marrying opera with new playwriting and focusing on introducing audiences to something they may not have tried before. So, if you like opera, you’ll get to sample new writing. And if you like new writing, you will get to hear some pretty good opera. The evening will feature two short operatic pieces, A Proposal is Made by Menotti, next up Two lodgers sharing the same room in Cox and Box by Sullivan –  this work was originally written with a countertenor in the role of Bouncer, later editions saw the change to baritone. We have decided for this production to revert to its original and a new play, Cycle by Joanna Norland’