Hampstead Garden Opera has reached back to 1643 for this marvellous Monteverdi opera and serves up a real treat with a cast of splendid young singers and players. It may lack some of the subtler pleasures of Monteverdi’s music, but it more than compensates with a full-speed-ahead take on the drama of Poppea’s quest to supplant Ottavia and become Nero’s queen.
Jacksons Lane Arts Centre has been HGO’s home for several years, and its friendly acoustic and intimate scale make it an ideal venue for the company’s style of scaled-back opera production. It is also a perfect space for young singers to test their talents.
The Emperor Nero is married to Ottavia but is under the erotic spell of his ambitious mistress, Poppea. He seeks a way to repudiate his wife, but his adviser Seneca warns him against such a scandalous act. Ottavia, hating Poppea, recruits Ottone — a former lover of Poppea — to murder her. Disguised in women’s clothes provided by Drusilla (who loves him), Ottone’s plot goes awry and Drusilla is arrested. To save her, she confesses to the attempted murder, but Ottone then tells Nero he was the real culprit. Nero, in an uncharacteristic display of mercy, decides to banish rather than execute them — and uses the failed plot as an excuse to exile Ottavia as well. The opera ends with the coronation of a triumphant Poppea.
The castrato role of Nero was sung by Hera Protopapas, a Greek soprano who specialises in both very old and very new music. She has a stunning voice that shone in her encounters with Poppea, though she never quite convinced as a murderous emperor consumed by lust. Poppea was sung by Theano Papadaki, a Cretan soprano with an enviable background in baroque music. She sang with an immaculate early-music tone yet also with real mezzo warmth and depth, and her fury at Poppea’s success was utterly convincing.
Louis Pettitt was a fine Ottone, combining delicate countertenor phrasing with dramatic flair and sparring with Poppea’s calculating sensuality with gusto. Ottavia was sung by Clover Kayne. Her singing had a richness and emotional intensity that lent the spurned wife and reluctant conspirator more credibility than is sometimes the case. There were also notable contributions from Henry Saywell as an impassioned Seneca and Jasmine Flicker as a determined Drusilla. As always with HGO, every role was sung by a performer with a clear sense of character and a palpable eagerness to seize their moment in the spotlight — which invariably makes for an exciting evening.
The orchestra, ably led by musical director and conductor Seb Gillot, was specially assembled for this rare work. The contributions from harpsichord, theorbo, and viola da gamba were wonderful, as were those from the standing violins and violas. The set was simple but effective: luxurious ceiling-length drapes and small plinths and stools used in a variety of ways.
Director Ashley Pearson bravely appeared on stage to play the goddess Virtue in the prologue, replacing a singer who was ill (the role was sung offstage). One or two of her directorial ideas misfired — Seneca’s fur coat and a cocaine scene to underline Nero’s decadence — but overall, the concept worked well and the pacing never faltered.
It is a remarkable feat to bring a nearly 400-year-old opera to life and find contemporary resonance within it. When Ottone sings, “Slander is the favoured weapon of the mighty,” it certainly struck a chord with the audience. Once again, HGO has produced a show that can stand proudly alongside those of much larger companies — an object lesson in how to present baroque opera for the modern world.
Composer: Claudio Monteverdi
Libretto: Giovanni Busenello
Conductor: Seb Gillot
Director: Ashley Pearson
Performers incl: Hera Protopapas, Theano Papadaki , Louis Pettitt, Clover Kayne
Running time: 2 hours 55 Minutes
Dates: until 16 November
Photo credit: Julian Gudiera