Richard Burton Theatre, Royal Welsh College Of Music And Drama

Wed 6 July

words: LYNDA NASH

★★★☆☆

I know nothing about opera. My mother played Mario Lanza when I was a kid and I’d stick my fingers in my ears, run upstairs and listen to heavy rock. So asking me to review an opera double-bill at the Richard Burton Theatre is like asking a vegetarian to review a steakhouse. But I’m game for anything.

The evening began with The Nightingale And The Rose – the first collaboration from composers Tom Floyd and David Spittle. This was a bittersweet fairytale about a student’s unrequited love for a professor’s daughter who promises to dance with him if he brings her a red rose. But there are no red roses in the forest. The nightingale hears the student’s lamentations and decides to seek out a rose for the boy. Sadly, this act of kindness does not end well. I was captivated by the romantic stage set with its oak tree and rose bushes, the actors’ ability to stand for long periods without moving and the engaging storyline, and I would have given the performance five stars – if it wasn’t for the singing. Actually, the singers did the best they could with music that wouldn’t have been out of place in a mausoleum but I struggled to find any melody to hook on to. Even the nightingale was denied a song so sweet.

The second performance was The Shadow Of The Wave, written by David Spittle – one act with seven scenes that I counted down because it was gone 9.30pm and my bed was calling. This chamber opera told the story of disturbed artist Alamar and his wife Gala who move to Spain in the hope of curing Alamar’s depression. They are joined by Gala’s sister Scarlett and her husband Adam, whose marriage is in jeopardy. It is clear from the onset that it’s Scarlett, not Alamar, who is the troubled soul. This is another tale of unrequited love that ends badly and if this had been a play I would have been riveted. But the music – oh the music – I flinched each time it started up (apologies to the orchestra who played their instruments without fault).

There is a school of thought that opera should only be sung in Italian and I can now see the reasoning behind this – Italian is a lyrical language and do you want a cup of coffee? or let’s go and shoot rabbits do not sound romantic sung in English. There were, however, powerful performances in both acts – particularly from Dorothea Herbert as the mad Scarlett,  Rhiannon Llewellyn as The Nightingale, Dawn Burns as The Red Rose and Sarah Reddin as Gala who brightened up the stage and made the second half of the evening bearable.

So that’s another item crossed off my bucket list. But next time I fancy a night at the opera I think I’ll stick with Queen.