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Operatic misfire
DAVID NICHOLSON finds the misogyny of Mozart’s storyline mishandled by tawdry stereotypes
CHEAP 'N CHEERFUL: Rebecca Evans as Despinain WNO's production of Cosi Fan Tutte
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Cosi Fan Tutte
Wales Millennium Centre
A NEW production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutti should be a cause for celebration, but Welsh National Opera’s latest adaptation creates even more problems from troublesome subject matter. Of course the music and singing is sublime, but this is opera and we expect the acting and staging to enhance and engage us.
The trouble is that the 18th-century storyline is a glaring example of misogyny writ large for today’s audience. That problem has been compounded by a staging which sets the action in a school, with the two couples played as schoolchildren in shorts and gymslips.
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