David Ireland and Mary Bevan, ENO’s The Marriage of Figaro 2025 (c) Zoe Martin
The Coliseum, English National Opera / Ainārs Rubiķis
The simplest solutions are often the best, especially when dealing with something rather convoluted, as in the case of The Marriage of Figaro which becomes increasingly so as the opera progresses. Rarely can this have been highlighted more starkly than in this revival of Joe Hill-Gibbins’ imaginative modern-dress production, first seen just before Covid struck in March 2020, with its seemingly artless set by Johannes Schütz—in essence, ‘just’ a large white box with four doors through which so much of the action, real and imagined, takes place that it feels almost like another character in itself.
The Overture revealed how integral the set was to the production: the principals displayed themselves in waves through the doors over the introductory bars, then—allied with the chorus—executed a bustling choreography (by Jenny Ogilvie) weaving in and out of the doors reflecting the hectic hurly-burly of the ducal house on Figaro’s and Susanna’s wedding day. As the opening section was recapitulated, so did the choreography, albeit with one or two subtle refinements mirroring those in Mozart’s music. As the first act proceeded, the doors permitted not just the actual egress and exeunts of cast and chorus but also those in the imaginations of the singers, for instance when Susanna (strongly and sensitively sung in an ultimately show-stealing by Mary Bevan) tells Figaro of Almaviva’s conniving to seduce her, the Count duly appears as a louche lounge lizard, a figment of her mind made manifest on stage. Almaviva is himself the victim of the doors’ caprices, whether feeding his (wholly unwarranted) suspicions of the Countess’ infidelities, or shielding from his gaze the priapic teenager Cherubino (in a flirting and fondling scene-stealing turn by Hanna Hipp, one of only two returning members of the original 2020 cast).
Cody Quattlebaum, ENO’s The Marriage of Figaro 2025 © Zoe Martin
If the set—which in both parts is lifted up to emphasize the upstairs-downstairs divide—is a prominent feature, so too is the orchestra, playing Mozart’s score that is the real driver of the whole opera, from the scurrying opening measures to the harmonic progressions that continually propel the plot forward, undermine the principals’ carefully constructed but increasingly fantastical schemes and machinations and, when all seems lost, like an unseen magic carpet, carries all to reconciliation and resolution. Ainārs Rubiķis, making his ENO debut, marshalled the orchestra with great skill—no surprise, really, for this laureate of the Gustav Mahler and Nestle and Salzburg Conductors competitions—judging the pace near ideally and balancing the orchestra and always excellent ENO Chorus so that the singers, making the most of Jeffrey Sams’ very singable translation, were never swamped or discomfited on stage.
ENO’ Chorus, The Marriage of Figaro 2025 (c) Zoe Martin
Of course, the key feature throughout was that this production was often genuinely funny: verbally, thanks to Sams and da Ponte’ libretto, and visually, through the physical body comedy—the splayed limbs flat against the wall as characters endeavoured to hide, Cherubino’s wandering hands, and the impromptu slow-motion boogie by Susanna and the Countess when Cherubino sings Voi che sapete—executed with relish by the cast. Only in the long final act in the garden, with its comings and goings (not least of the set, retreating to the back of the stage to represent the ducal house), did the production seem to stumble a little, but the fault here is da Ponte’s and, ultimately, Beaumarchais’ as plot device upon cunning plan upon dubious disguise are piled one atop the other in deliberate confusion.
I said revival above, but in truth this is the production’s first real run. Two days after its opening night on March 14th, the Covid pandemic forced all theatres to close and the remaining scheduled nine performances were lost. Why it has taken three full seasons since the theatres re-opened in 2022 for this sparkling production to return is unclear, but return it most splendidly has. ENO assembled a fine, uniformly strong cast for this run, with no weak links. The most impressive singing undoubtedly came from Nardus Williams, a little underused dramatically as the Countess, perhaps (although she comes into her ow in the later scenes); ironically, she was scheduled to sing the role in the final performance in April 2020. David Ireland was robust as Figaro, although not quite the convincing schemer of Rossini’s prequel, seen in the Coliseum last year in Jonathan Miller’s classic, much-revived period production. Cody Quattlebaum, making his house debut, was a convincing Almaviva dramatically, but his enunciation was less so. The sub-plot plotters of Marcellina (Rebecca Evans, doing a first-rate Lesley Garrett impression; Garrett sang Berta in The Barber last season), Dr Bartolo (Neil Davies) and the vengeful Don Basilio (Hubert Francis, doubling as the lawyer Don Curzio) provided finely tuned
Hubert Francis, Rebecca Evans, Neal Davies, ENO’s The Marriage of Figaro 2025 © Zoe Martin
dramatic-comic contrast—especially in the big reveal in Act 3—while Trevor Eliot Bowes as Antonio almost made hydrangea cultivation and gardening gloves chic; last but not least, Ava Dodd as his daughter Barbarina (coincidentally, the third object of Cherubino’s desire and Almaviva’s actual, sometime paramour) shone in her minor but important role.
Revival or run, it continues to February 22nd, when the present Arts Council-impeded season concludes. Catch it if you can; who knows when or whether it will return again.