Composer: Rossini<\/p>\n
Musical director: Giannis Giannopoulos <\/p>\n
Director: Guido Martin-Brandis<\/p>\n
The Barber of Seville is another imaginative production by Opera Kipling. With a cast of just five and a neatly abridged version, it\u2019s perfect for Camden Fringe.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s set in the 1960s, which allows for funny changes. As the ward of the repressive Bartolo, Rosina at first wears a demure full skirt. But having fallen for Lindoro, she\u2019s ready to rock, with an on-trend shift dress, knee-length boots and a fabulous beehive. So when the man of disguises, Lindoro, now pretends to be her music teacher, the pair briefly ditches Rossini\u2019s music and instead do the twist to the Kinks\u2019 You Really Got Me.<\/p>\n
Lyric soprano and producer, Laura Curry, invests her Rosina not just with glorious singing, but with great comic energy. Her facial expressions when crossed by her guardian are hilarious. Lindoro, who of course is really Count Almaviva in disguise, is played by tenor Robert Tilson. As the dapper young suitor, he seems a bit fragile. But he really comes into his own when he transforms into the drunken soldier, billeted on Bartolo, showing more stage presence and singing with greater power.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s Alexander Jones as Figaro who commands the show, brilliantly performing \u2018Largo al factotum\u2019. His comic business is hilarious. Offered a gold coin by Lindoro, he makes out in \u2018All\u2019idea di quel metallo\u2019 that the gold is actually talking to him, inspiring his effervescent schemes. Later, in a lovely moment that squeezes in a lot of plot, he becomes the off-stage police officer responding to a call by playing a kazoo down the phone.<\/p>\n
Geoff Clapham\u2019s Don Basilio is a fabulous piece of physical comedy. He struts in wearing an orange wig and a slightly demented stare. His advice to smear the Count, \u2018La calunnia \u00e8 un venticello,\u2019 is magnificent. Then, in a great move (hats off to director Guido Martin-Brandis), he is offered mysterious blue pills and starts to hallucinate (cue a quick psychedelic experience staged by the others). Next time he enters, he\u2019s gone full stoned hippy, with long flowing hair and a flowery headband.<\/p>\n
Equally demented is Massimo Modini\u2019s Don Bartolo, although the part doesn\u2019t allow for the modulations of the other characters and his mannerisms tend to exaggeration.<\/p>\n
Musical Director Giannis Giannopoulos accompanies throughout with dynamic verve. Rossini\u2019s range of duets, trios, quartets and the wonderful quintet \u2018Don Basilio! \u2013 Cosa veggo!\u2019 are all a delight.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a lovely introduction to Rossini\u2019s opera.<\/p>\n
Runs until 9 August 2026<\/p>\n
Camden Fringe 2026 runs until 30 August\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\tThe Reviews Hub Star Rating<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Composer: Rossini Musical director: Giannis Giannopoulos Director: Guido Martin-Brandis The Barber of Seville is another imaginative production by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[26948,26949,26950,26951,26952,26953,4697,26954,15054,26955,7718,26956,7097,109,5199,26957],"class_list":["post-68451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-seville","tag-alexander-jones","tag-camden-fringe","tag-geoff-clapham","tag-giannis-giannopoulos","tag-guido-martin-brandis","tag-laura-curry","tag-london","tag-massimo-modini","tag-opera","tag-opera-kipling","tag-review","tag-robert-tilson","tag-rossini","tag-seville","tag-the-barber-of-seville","tag-upstairs-at-the-gatehouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}