Acis and Galatea – Opera Holland Park, London

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Conductor: Michael Papadopoulos

Director: Louise Bakker

While Handel composed the pastoral opera Acis and Galatea for the 1^st Duke of Chandos in 1718, he lived and worked at the Duke’s lavish country house, Cannons, with its vast pleasure gardens, including an impressive jet d’eau. This fountain finds its way into the opera: Acis, the beloved of Galatea, is turned into a fountain after he is killed by the vengeful Polyphemus. Acis and Galatea is a particularly appropriate opera for Opera Holland Park, the theatre in the ruins of a once grand house in glorious grounds.

It’s a simple, sweet work. The first act merrily celebrates the innocent joys of pastoral life, the second the inevitable expulsion from paradise. When it opens, nymphs and shepherds gambol in the sunshine amidst, in this production, a rather winning flock of sheep. It is here the mortal Acis first catches sight of the semi-divine Galatea. The second act brings an elegiac mood. The Cyclops Polyphemus, enraged by Galatea’s rejection of his clumsy advances, slaughters Acis with a heavy rock. As in Ovid’s telling of the tale, tragedy is recast as something sweeter with the final metamorphosis of Acis.

In this production, director Louise Bakker and designer Alyson Cummins consciously evoke the pastoral world of Poussin. Nymphs and shepherds dance with ribbons around a rotunda, its rather chunky pillars wound with ivy, beside which lies a grassy mound, flowery banks and a swing. There are particularly comic moments when the chorus self-consciously poses for a tableau, their deliberately stiff gestures suggesting, for example, Poussin’s Et in Arcadia Ego. Such moments are comically undercut when, their pose over, they all slump down to their original positions.

It’s a work full of gorgeous music. Following the chorus singing, O the pleasures of the plains, Galatea has her lovely aria, Hush, ye pretty warbling quire! Soprano Elizabeth Karani is delightful as Galatea, capturing in her performance both the joys of pastoral life and an underlying wariness of mortal pleasure. Handel’s scoring here is particularly compelling, sopranino recorders exquisitely played by Rachel Beckett and Catherine Latham warbling prettily above the stringed instruments. Anthony Gregory makes a fine debut at Opera Holland Park as Acis, with his beautiful serenade Love in her eyes sits playing, followed by the glorious duet with Galatea, Happy, happy we.

In a work in which, by design, nothing much happens, the appearance of Damon and his flock of sheep create a sensation. The sheep – chorus members transformed by woolly coats and ears, black gloves making convincing sheep legs – roam free around the audience. In one bit of comic business, they all raise their hoofs and baa loudly to alert Acis to the hidden Galatea behind him.

Damon himself exists to warn Acis that no joys can last. Ruari Bowen, also making his Opera Holland Park debut, sings Damon with exceptional sweetness and clarity, making the part his own. He also gets a lot of comic mileage with his interaction with the sheep.

But a snake is revealed in this paradise with the appearance of the Cyclops, Polyphemus. Bass Chuma Sijeqa has both the voice and the acting skills to enforce the contrast between him and the other characters. He also manages well the contrast between the opera’s most famous aria, O ruddier than the cherry, and the powerful recitative which precedes it, I rage, I melt, I burn.

Michael Papadopoulos conducts with zesty energy, getting a really wonderful performance from the small band of instrumentalists from the orchestra.

A charming production

Runs until 2 August 2024