Verdi’s Falstaff, Opera North,Theatre Royal, Nottingham, 11 November, 2023.

5*****: William Ruff.

When the 80-year-old Verdi was composing Falstaff, his final opera, he used to laugh so much that he had to stop what he was doing. If he’d seen Olivia Fuch’s current Opera North production he would surely have died laughing. It’s not just the knockabout farce that is so entertaining: this is a production with such a vast sense of humour that the wit is everywhere – in what you see, in the words you hear and (most of all) in Verdi’s sublime music. They all come together to produce something really special.

Before the opera starts, the entire length and width of the stage is taken up with hundreds of plastic strips which make up an enormous multicoloured summer door curtain. And then the laughs come as soon as the scene which lies behind it is revealed. Henry Waddington as the hugely fat Falstaff is sitting under a parasol, feet resting on a crate of port, typewriter on his lap and next to his caravan. His ‘ancestral’ mobile home comes with added church window and a dartboard sporting trophy horns. When he throws a dart at it, the dart hits its mark - and the same could be said about the whole of this production.

The story of Falstaff comes mainly from Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor. The old knight pursues two respectable townswomen for money and sex. They, however, plot against him and he ends up hiding in a laundry basket, being thrown into the river and finally (and a tad more improbably) being teased and tormented by the good people of Windsor dressed as elves and fairies.

There’s so much going on in this production that it would be easy to treat Verdi’s sublime score as an also-ran. In fact, Garry Walker’s conducting of Opera North’s superb orchestra is so nuanced, so detailed that it provides the ever-changing stream on which everything else floats and sparkles. Amanda Holden’s hilarious English translation adds immeasurably to the fun as does Leslie Travers ingenious 1980s setting.

You couldn’t mount a production such as this without a cast that can act as well as it can sing. Opera North certainly field their A team in this Falstaff. Henry Waddington is as funny lumbering across the stage as he is lolling in his caravan or in bed in his underpants. Vocally he is alive to the tiniest details in the score. Kate Royal sparkles as Alice both vocally and in her plot to teach the fat knight the lesson of his life. Richard Burkhard brings much gusto and comic energy to the part of Ford whilst Isabelle Peters and Egor Zhuranskii look and sound just right as the lovers Nannetta and Fenton. This is a large-cast production and the whole company (including Opera North’s Chorus of prodding and pinching fairies) is on top form.

In short this Falstaff is a delight both for seasoned Verdi-lovers and for those who simply want to leave the theatre with a spring in their step, a good tune on their lips and much to keep them smiling in the days ahead.

Cast:

Henry Waddington FALSTAFF

Kate Royal ALICE FORD

Helen Évora MEG PAGE

Isabelle Peters NANNETTA

Egor Zhuravskii FENTON

Richard Burkhard FORD

Louise Winter MISTRESS QUICKLY

Paul Nilon DR CAIUS

Colin Judson BARDOLPH

Dean Robinson PISTOL

Creatives:

The Orchestra and Chorus of Opera North, Garry Walker CONDUCTOR

Olivia Fuchs DIRECTOR

Leslie Travers SET DESIGNER

Gabrielle Dalton COSTUME DESIGNER

Paule Constable LIGHTING DESIGNER

Ben Pickersgill LIGHTING DESIGNER

Lauren Poulton MOVEMENT DIRECTOR