Mozart wasn’t shy of a good bit of slapstick and this tale about love, abduction and rescue from the well meaning clutches of a Turkish lord is a proper gag fest.
Opera North’s take on events is a fairly crackers affair, taking a high paced run at the story with a whirl of imagery and costume from east and west. All mixed up upon a simple yet decidely surreal set like some sort of Emirates infused acid trip.
The cast performed excellently amongst this, at times confusing, rush of visuals. Matching the pace of the plot with energy and clarity to lend polish to the proceedings.
The Spanish lady Constanze (Kate Valentine) has some terrific arias to perform and handled them with great skill. A stark musical contrast with the spoken role of her captor the Pasha (Martin Hyder) whom she is starting to fall for.
Constanze’s knight errant, the love struck and rather dippy Belmonte (Allan Clayton) sings some challenging love struck waxings with excellent diction, with support from partner in crime Pedrillo (Nicholas Sharratt) Constanze’s sharply dressed manservant, who also wants to escape.
The comedy is strong throughout and there is a wonderful double act between the sweaty head of security Osmin (Clive Bayley) and Constanze’s sharp and witty maid Blonde (Elena Xanthoudakis). Their bickering and domestic argy bargy degrading to Vic and Bob style saucepan warfare on occasion.
Other three stooges moments of note included a Benny Hill style hide and seek routine in super hero costumes and the dead pan presence of the mute (Nadia Morgan) who narrates wittily while performing many jobs, including a gun toting Panda. Another nicely offbeat touch.
The singing was great and the comedy routines fun but the production just takes on too much, with the bonkers visual references and themes speeding off into mushroom land on several occassions. An enjoyably different performance but given the choice of this or the other shows from the Opera North summer programme, I’d probably plumb for their equally wacky yet well structured production of Paradise Moscow.
The Abduction from the Seraglio plays at Nottingham Theatre Royal on June 16 & 19 2009. Don Carlos plays on June 17 & 20 and Paradise Moscow Thursday June 19.
