GEOFF BOTTOMS relishes a profoundly human portrait of a family as it evolves across 55 years in Sheffield
The Marriage of Figaro
English National Opera
London
Mozart’s most revolutionary comic opera tackles traditional gender roles and class society. But packages it in scintillating orchestral writing and vocal fireworks. It is based on the play by Beaumarchais first performed in 1784. At the time the play was banned in Vienna due its subversive subject matter.
As a result of the ‘#MeToo’ movement, situations where wealthy and powerful men sexually harass women have become a key issue, so Mozart’s 200-year-old opera is as relevant as ever.
DAVID NICHOLSON is thrilled – and shocked – by an opera that seethes and sizzles with passion and the depraved use of power
GORDON PARSONS is disappointed by an unsubtle production of this comedy of upper middle class infidelity
MARY CONWAY recommends a play that some will find more discursive than eventful but one in which the characters glow



