East AngliaOperaReview

Lucrezia Borgia – Theatre Royal, Norwich

Reviewer: Lu Greer

Director: Eloise Lally

Lucrezia Borgia, the twisting narrative of a mass poisoning and a rather complicated mother-child relationship is perhaps one of Donizetti’s least known operas. The piece is based on Victor Hugo’s novel, which was released just one year apart from Le Roi s’amuse which went on to become the internationally renowned Rigoletto, whereas this markedly similar tale sank into some obscurity. This new production from the English Touring Opera, then, is here to (attempt) to show why it deserves its place with the classics.

The narrative of the opera does not, perhaps, have the depth or complexities you might expect as it essentially follows Lucrezia as she meets her son, inadvertently almost gets him killed, kills all of his friends, then watches him kill himself. It is, arguably, an intriguing plot but perhaps not for the positive reasons one might have hoped. The lacking plot is only highlighted by the staging choices, with Adam Wiltshire’s dark and atmospheric sets working with the small ensemble to highlight the sparsity in unflattering ways.

The intention for Lucrezia as an opera seems to have been to use the plot merely as a vehicle to showcase one particular voice, that of Lucrezia herself. Katherine McIndoe traverses Donizetti’s roulades and showcases her soprano beautifully on the high notes. Supporting her, in the role of Gennaro her long lost son, Thomas Elwin works hard to bring life to the character. The shining star of the performance however must be Katie Coventry as Orsini; she lifts every scene she is in and has a chemistry with Elwin which makes their scenes together unexpectedly captivating. Choosing to support these voices with the Old Street Band with period correct instruments is an inspired choice, and gives the music an interesting complexity, although there are times during the first act when the music swells and drowns out the voices.

Lucrezia Borgia makes for a curious viewing. On the one hand the musical performances are accomplished and note perfect, but on the other the plot feels like someone lost half of the pages and hoped no one would notice leaving the piece with no real emotion through no fault of the performers. The company in this piece, perhaps, deserve better than the script they have.

Runs Until: 17 March 2023

The Reviews Hub Score

Strong voices, thin plot

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The Reviews Hub - South East

The South East team is under the editorship of Nicole Craft. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. Our mission is to provide the most in-depth, nationwide arts coverage online.

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