GIANNI SCHICCHI – OPERAUPCLOSE – Review
Mayflower Studios – Southampton until 7th March 2026 then touring
OperaUpClose, a British national opera company that prides itself by living up to its tag line “Intimate in Scale Mighty in Impact” and is based in Southampton since moving out of London. Its home is now at Mayflower Studios, where this week their latest production, an interpretation of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi premieres ahead of a national tour. And what an interpretation it is.
We last saw this opera in Southampton back in November 2024 when Welsh National Opera staged this one-act opera, that made up his Il Trittico. Unfortunately WNO are not visiting Mayflower Theatre this year which is the first time since the theatre opened in 1987. Could this be the end of large scale opera on the South Coast – having previously lost regular visits by English National Opera and Glyndebourne Touring Opera. If so, OperaUpClose is the lifeline that we need and Mayflower Studios provides the perfect venue for the intimacy that their productions deserve.
Gianni Schicchi – is based on a story from Dante’s Inferno about a Florentine knight, Signor Buso Donati. Here the story is relocated to the South coast seaside town of Harmouth and the Florentine knight becomes the super-wealthy Bruno Donaldson. At a summer party at his home Bruno has a fatal accident and his family discover that they are excluded from his will. So they engage ‘fixer’ Gianni Schicchi to sort out their mess. His innate cunning inspires him to impersonate Bruno as a dying man in order to fool the local doctor into believing Bruno is still alive; then they set aabout drafting a new will. With absolute confidence Schicchi then gets the will rewritten in a way that distributes the estate leaving the most valuable parts to himself, much to the chagrin of the family which is powerless to change the situation.
For once a modern interpretation retains all the intrigue and characterisations of the original but very cleverly has shifted everything, believably, to modern day Britain. For anyone that hasn’t seen an OperaUpClose production before part of their magic is that every aspect of the opera is there on stage in front of you, the performers, the musicians, the soloists – each has their role and are very effective as a complete ensemble.
Much of the success of this approach has to be to the credit of Artistic Director and CEO Flora McIntosh along with composer Vahan Salorian and librettist Hannah Kumari, who have taken the original music and lyrics and made them appropriate for today’s story and the way it needs to be told. A big surprise was at the very beginning, the opening was a podcast projected onto louvred blinds – with two protagonists, Hari and Harry, explaining about the town of Harmouth and its residents – perfectly setting the scene and very differing views.
The musicians, Simon Hewitt Jones (Leader), Jess Martin who plays a doctor, Valerie Barr a solicitor and Stephanie Yim who’s a witness, perform beautifully and at times it’s difficult to know that you’re not listening to a full orchestra, such is their perfect understanding. With the music you must have singers and any opera demands voices of an outstanding quality and here we have it in spades. The aria ‘O mio babbino caro’ is performed with absolute perfection by British-Argentinian soprano Ceferina Penny as Lauretta. Her boyfriend Roddie is played by Northern Irish tenor Aaron O’Hare who has regularly performed with Irish National Opera and Welsh National Opera. Baritone, Dan D’Souza playing Gianni Schicchi has regularly performed with English National Opera; and then there is Irish bass John Molloy, prized concert performer Emma Marwood as Claudia, Felicity Buckland as Zara, who who has sung roles with ENO and Ri Baroche who devised and performed the podcast introduction. As well as perfect vocals, each member has to become part of the story and bring the audience into the story with them and for me this is the first time with this Puccini opera that this has happened.
I urge anyone that has the slightest interest in music, not just opera fiends, to hurry along to Mayflower Studios to catch one of the last performances today. You will discover something fresh and new, something which might change your pre-conceived ideas of opera and as such, open up a whole new world to explore. The Southampton audience revelled in its humour, beautiful melodies and impressive singing. We left the theatre feeling replete and looking forward to the next time we have the opportunity to see this wonderful company, that single handedly is keeping opera alive in the South of England. A totally enjoyable evening, one that will be remembered and has really whetted my appetite for what OperaUpClose are going to bring us next.
all pictures by rich southgate
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