JANE EYRE. JOUBERT. GREEN OPERA.

“GREEN OPERA’S PRODUCTION OF JOHN JOUBERT’S JANE EYRE TURNS THE BEST PARTS OF OPERA INTO A PHENOMENAL WORK OF ART. I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE ANYONE WHO “DOESN’T LIKE OPERA” TO TRY IT – PRODUCTIONS LIKE THIS WILL MAKE YOU THINK AGAIN!”
”AT ONCE POWERFUL AND RAW WHILE REMAINING REFINED AND FOCUSED”
“PRODUCING THIS IN THE ARCOLA THEATRE IS A REVELATION, AS THE INTIMATE SPACE DRAWS US INTO THE CAST’S FULL SPECTRUM OF EMOTIONS WITHOUT HAVING TO TAKE OUT A LOAN. ELEANOR BURKE’S DIRECTION IMMERSES US FURTHER, EXTRACTING POWERFUL PERFORMANCES AND CLEVERLY USING SPACE, LEVELS, MOVEMENT AND VISUALLY STRIKING SYMBOLISM.”
“AN ENTHUSIASTIC AND ENGAGING EVENING, WHICH HELD MY ATTENTION THROUGHOUT DESPITE PRIOR FAMILIARITY WITH THE STORY.”
“AN IMAGINATIVE PRODUCTION, WHERE PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EXTERNALITIES.”
”AWARD-WINNING DIRECTOR ELEANOR BURKE’S BOLD INTERPRETATION KEEPS THE PRESENCE OF BERTHA, THE MAD WOMAN IN THE ATTIC, ALIVE FOR THE AUDIENCE AS STEFFI FASHOKUN’S BALLETIC MOVES WEAVE AROUND THE MAIN ACTION. SHE REFUSES TO BE FORGOTTEN.”
“AMAZINGLY, THE STAGE PREMIERE OF JOUBERT'S FINAL OPERA, A WORK WHICH HAS TANTALISED FOR DECADES. HERE RECEIVING AN ADMIRABLY FULL-BLOODED PERFORMANCE”
”WE MUST APPLAUD GREEN OPERA FOR GOING WHERE NO OTHER COMPANY HAS DARED”
”THE PERFORMANCES BY THE TWO LEADS, LAURA MEKHAIL AND HECTOR BLOGGS WERE BOTH FULL BLOODED AND ENGAGING. MEKHAIL BROUGHT A CONTAINED INTENSITY TO JANE, MAKING YOU REMEMBER THAT IN THE BOOK THE CHARACTER IS FIERCE WITH SHARP EDGES.”
”A MUST SEE”
“IF JOUBERT SAW THIS PERFORMED AS AN OPERA HE’D FEEL THE LACK OF BERTHA’S VOICE MORE ACUTELY…STEFFI FASHOKUN’S BERTHA MASON WORDLESSLY CONVEY[S] TRAUMA, DREAM AND TURMOIL, AND SHE’S SUPERB”
“A GRIPPING ROMANTIC OPERA PREMIERE EMERGING RIGHT OUT OF DALSTON. ARCOLA’S GRIMEBORN HAVE SCORED ANOTHER FIRST WITH A FUTURE.”
“THIS CONTEMPORARY OPERATIC TAKE ON A CLASSIC STORY IS VISUALLY RICH AND MUSICALLY DRAMATIC, BROUGHT TO LIFE BY A TALENTED GROUP OF YOUNG SINGERS”
“ELEANOR BURKE’S DIRECTION AND EMELINE BEROUD’S SET AND COSTUMES HELP CREATE A RICH VISUAL WORLD IN WHICH THESE TENSE INTERPERSONAL DYNAMICS PLAY OUT. THE PRODUCTION DESIGN CENTRES ON THE RED THREADS OF FATE AND DESTINY WHICH AT TIMES TRAP AND PULL EACH CHARACTER IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS. ABOVE THE STAGE, IN HER ATTIC, BERTHA MASON WORKS AT A BLOOD RED TAPESTRY, LIKE A MODERN-DAY PENELOPE WEAVING IN CAPTIVITY.”
“HANGING FROM THE CEILING ARE SEVERAL PROPS REPRESENTING KEY MOMENTS OR THEMES FROM JANE’S LIFE, AND CHARACTERS INTERACT WITH THESE AT KEY POINTS IN THE SHOW. WITHIN THE MINIMAL YET INTIMATE SPACE OF THE ARCOLA, THESE PROPS HELP CREATE A TANGIBLE LANDSCAPE EVOKING THE 19TH CENTURY WORLD OF THE NOVEL. THE IMMEDIACY OF THE SMALL CAST SINGING SO CLOSELY TO THE AUDIENCE ALSO ALLOWED THE SINGERS TO PLAY WITH A MUCH GREATER DYNAMIC RANGE THAN SOME TRADITIONAL OPERAS IN A LARGER SPACE.”

EUGENE ONEGIN. TCHAIKOVSKY. HAMPSTEAD GARDEN OPERA.

“THIS GLORIOUS PRODUCTION OF TCHAIKOVSKY’S MASTERPIECE EUGENE ONEGIN WILL DO MUCH TO BURNISH HGO’S ALREADY GLITTERING REPUTATION FOR NURTURING YOUNG TALENT.”
“DIRECTOR ELEANOR BURKE HAS, INSPIRATIONALLY, TRANSPOSED THE STORY TO THE 80S AND EARLY 90S.”
“THRILLINGLY DIRECT”
“ELEANOR BURKE’S STAGING WAS UPFRONT AND RAW, PLACING THE ACTION AMID VODKA-SWILLING NORTH LONDON TEENS AND IN DOING SO, HONOURING TCHAIKOVSKY’S OWN WISH THAT ONEGIN SHOULD BE AN OPERA FOR, AS WELL AS ABOUT, THE YOUNG.”
“IT WAS THE SORT OF NIGHT THAT MADE YOU WANT TO GO OUT AND DRAG IN AN OPERA-SCEPTIC, JUST TO WATCH THEIR PREJUDICES BEING BLASTED AWAY AT STORM FORCE.”
“HGO’S NEW EUGENE ONEGIN IS NOT ONLY ONE OF THE MOST IMPRESSIVE PRODUCTIONS I HAVE SEEN YET FROM THE COMPANY; IT IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPRESSIVE OF THE WORK I HAVE SEEN FOR QUITE SOME TIME TOO.“
“THE STRONG DIRECTION GIVES THE OVERT DRAMA A NEW LEASE OF LIFE AND ONE BELIEVES IN THESE CHARACTERS AS THEMSELVES, LENSKY AND OLGA AS MUCH AS ONEGIN AND TATIANA, THE TROUBLED COMMUNITY IN WHICH THEY GROW UP TOO, DIFFERENT CHARACTERS SKETCHED INTRIGUINGLY, BECOMING A CHORUS WHEN CALLED UPON, YET CLEARLY HAVING LIVES, PROBLEMS, AND PERSONALITIES OF THEIR OWN.”
“CLEARLY A CONSEQUENCE OF DEDICATED, INTENSIVE COLLABORATION, ALL WAS MORE THAN THE SUM OF ITS CONSIDERABLE PARTS. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.”
”IN THIS IMAGINATIVE VERSION DIRECTED BY ELEANOR BURKE FOR THE ADMIRABLE HAMPSTEAD GARDEN OPERA (HGO) THE SETTING IS SHIFTED TO THE PRESENT DAY AND THE CONTRAST BETWEEN COUNTRY SIMPLICITY AND CITY SOPHISTICATION IS SHOWN IN A DIFFERENT BUT EFFECTIVE WAY.“
”THE TORMENTED DUET BETWEEN TATYANA AND ONEGIN AT THE CLIMAX OF THE OPERA WAS ALL ONE COULD HAVE WANTED…ANOTHER REAL ACHIEVEMENT FOR HAMPSTEAD GARDEN OPERA AND ITS YOUNG PERFORMERS.”
“NOTHING PREPARED ME FOR THE QUALITY OF…THE RECENT PRODUCTION OF TCHAIKOVSKY’S EUGENE ONEGIN.”

LARMES DE COUTEAU. MARTINŮ. ROYAL OPERA HOUSE.

“I DOUBT I WILL BE THE ONLY PERSON TO COME OUT OF THIS DOUBLE BILL WITH A BIG SMILE ON MY FACE…SUCH IS THE LIGHT TOUCH, MISCHIEVOUS ENERGY AND SHEER VISUAL INVENTIVENESS”
“THE MIRACLE OF THIS DOUBLE BILL FROM THE ROYAL OPERA’S JETTE PARKER ARTISTS WAS HOW INTENSELY GRIPPING IT WAS”
“NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE SKILL NEEDED TO FRAME THE IRREGULAR, TO MAKE ELEGANT THAT WHICH IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE WHILE KEEPING ANARCHY INTACT. THE LINBURY THEATRE’S DOUBLE BILL OF TWO DADA-ESQUE CHAMBER OPERAS HAS DONE JUST THAT”
“DELIGHTFULLY REALISED…BOTH STAGINGS LOOK A TREAT”

AT THE STATUE OF VENUS/LA VOIX HUMAINE. HEGGIE/POULENC. GREEN OPERA.

LA VOIX HUMAINE – “BURKE’S PARED-BACK STAGING WAS EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE”
“BOTH WORKS ARE BEAUTIFULLY ASSEMBLED AND STRIKE SPARKS OFF ONE ANOTHER”
“THE SWITCHBACK OF PASSIONATE LOVE, ANGER, REGRET, SELF-HATRED AND LOSS OF SELF-RESPECT IS PRESENTED WITH GRUESOME PLAUSIBILITY”
“IT IS A FINE DIRECTORIAL TOUCH BY ELEANOR BURKE TO MAKE ‘ELLE’ PREGNANT, THUS GIVING US AND THE PERFORMER A READY MEANS TO UNDERSTAND THE EXTENT AND FIERCENESS OF HER DESPERATION, EVEN FROM THE OUTSET OF THE CALL.”
“LUCID AND ABSORBINGLY RICH”
AT THE STATUE OF VENUS “RIDES THE WAVE OF THE QUICK-CUTTING THOUGHTS: THE SELF-DOUBT, THE AWKWARDNESS AND ALSO THE FLASHES OF HUMOUR”
LA VOIX HUMAINE – “UTTERLY COMMANDING”
“IT ALL LEADS TO A CLIMAX IN WHICH THE PAIN OF LOSS IS OVERLAID WITH THAT OF CONTRACTIONS. IS THIS A LOSS AND A BIRTH, OR A DOUBLE LOSS?”

555: VERLAINE EN PRISON. ELEANOR BURKE.

“A TENDER AND TROUBLED PORTRAIT OF POETIC PROFUNDITY”
“REAPED HUGE EMOTIONAL AND DRAMATIC REWARDS”
“NO PRAISE IS HIGH ENOUGH”
“GONZALES HELD THE AUDITORIUM IN THRALL THROUGHOUT AN HOUR IN WHICH HIS PHYSICAL ACTING WAS AS INTENSE AS HIS SINGING.”
“[VERLAINE’S] UGLY CHARACTER’S DETERIORATION WAS SWEATILY CONVINCING YET SO IMPROBABLY MOVING THAT ONLY AFTERWARDS DID I FEEL GUILTY FOR EMPATHIZING WITH AN ABUSER.”
“IT WAS AN AWARD-WORTHY ACHIEVEMENT TUCKED AWAY IN A DIM CORNER OF THE LONDON SEASON.”
“LOGAN LOPEZ GONZALEZ…HAS A STILLNESS THAT DOMINATES THE STAGE OF THE ARCOLA STUDIO. HIS VOICE IS EXPRESSIVE – RANGING FROM SERENE BEAUTY TO HARSH DESPAIR”
“THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN VOICES AND PIANO IS FINELY JUDGED AND THE PERFORMANCES REACH HIGH STANDARDS OF EXPRESSIVE BEAUTY.”
“ANNA SIDERIS AND PIANIST STELLA MARIE LORENZ ARE ENTIRELY IN TUNE WITH THE MOOD AND SHAPE OF THE PIECE.”
“IT SUCCEEDS IN CREATING A HAUNTING, POETIC ATMOSPHERE THAT CAPTURES THE ESSENCE OF HIS ARTISTIC SPIRIT. FOR LOVERS OF FRENCH POETRY AND MUSIC, THIS PRODUCTION PROVIDES A RARE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPERIENCE VERLAINE’S WORDS BROUGHT TO LIFE IN A TRULY IMMERSIVE WAY.”
“THE COLLABORATION BETWEEN SIDERIS, WHO SKILFULLY PORTRAYS ALL SIDE CHARACTERS, AND GONZALEZ IS A STANDOUT ELEMENT OF THE PRODUCTION. THEIR SYNERGY IS PALPABLE, CONVEYED THROUGH BOTH SIDERIS’ NUANCED ACTING AND GONZALEZ’S EMOTIVE SINGING.”
“ALONGSIDE PIANIST STELLA MARIE LORENZ, HE [LOGAN LOPEZ GONZALEZ] DELIVERS A SERIES OF NUANCED, CAPTIVATING PERFORMANCES THAT BRING VERLAINE’S POETRY TO LIFE.”
“A SUBTLE DEPICTION OF A COMPLEX MAN”
“THIS WAS AN ENCHANTING EVENING IN THE THEATRE, WITH THE THREE PERFORMERS ALL BEING MESMERISING IN THEIR OWN PARTICULAR WAY.”
“ELEANOR BURKE’S DIRECTION IS SUBTLE AND EFFECTIVE.”
“WE HAVE SOME GLORIOUS SINGING FROM COUNTERTENOR LOGAN LOPEZ GONZALEZ…HE ENTRANCES WITH HIS LONG BEAUTIFULLY SUSTAINED HIGH NOTES AT THE END OF THE SENSUOUS PHRASES. THIS IS JUST GORGEOUS.”
“THE USE OF COUNTERTENOR SEEMS TO FOCUS ON [VERLAINE’S] INTOXICATING AND ETHEREAL FRAGILITY THAT GOES HAND IN HAND WITH HIS OWN POETRY.”
“THE WRITERS ELEANOR BURKE AND LOGAN LOPEZ GONZALES HAVE CREATED AN INSIGHTFUL WORK ABOUT VERLAINE’S LIFE.”
“LOPEZ GONZALES RISES TO GREAT DRAMA WITH VERY INTENSE MOMENTS BRINGING ABOUT A REAL CLIMAX OF THE STORY.”
“HIGHLY RECOMMENDED”
“A FASCINATING STORY OF LOVE, PASSION, AND VIOLENCE’”
“THRILLING”
“THE STAGECRAFT OF THIS PRODUCTION WAS A HIGHLIGHT THROUGHOUT, SUCCESSFULLY CONVEYING, AND EVOKING, THE EMOTIONAL WEIGHT OF EACH SCENE.”

THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN. JANÁČEK. HAMPSTEAD GARDEN OPERA.

“‘MAGICAL’ IS A WORD MUCH OVERUSED BY THE PEOPLE WHO WRITE THE BLURBS FOR OPERAS – BUT IN THE CASE OF HGO’S LATEST PRODUCTION AT NEWLY REFURBISHED JACKSON’S LANE, IT'S MERITED.”
“....RISING STAR DIRECTOR ELEANOR BURKE’S, ENCHANTING PRODUCTION”
“DELIGHTFUL”
“BURKE’S PRODUCTION COMMUNICATES BOTH THE CHILDISH LIGHT-HEARTEDNESS AND THE COMPLEX MATURITY OF JANÁČEK’S OPERA WITH FLAIR AND CONVICTION.”
“THIS SPLENDID PRODUCTION BY ELEANOR BURKE FOR HAMPSTEAD GARDEN OPERA IS CERTAINLY DELIGHTFUL AND CAPTURES THE LIVES OF THE WOODLAND CREATURES WITH VERVE AND JOY”.

BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE. BARTÓK. GREEN OPERA.

“THIS PRODUCTION THOROUGHLY WON ME OVER TO A CHAMBER-SCALE PERFORMANCE OF THE WORK – IT ENHANCES THE DRAMA BY DRAWING YOU IN, WHILE LOSING LITTLE RESONANCE IN THE REDUCTION OF ORCHESTRAL SCALE.”
“WE LEFT WITH LOTS TO THINK ABOUT AND THE MEMORY OF A RIGOROUS, TECHNICALLY IMPRESSIVE, AND DEMANDING PERFORMANCE – IN THE BEST SENSE.”
“IN THIS FINE VERSION – PRESENTED BY GREEN OPERA FOR THE GRIMEBORN FESTIVAL – THE CLAUSTROPHOBIC STUDIO AT THE ARCOLA PROVES TO BE AN IDEAL SPACE TO INTENSIFY THE LOOMING SENSE OF DOOM THAT BUILDS THROUGH THE OPERA”.