Theatre review
Orlando
Opera Theatre Company

'…brutalized by his violent profession, rejected by his partner, the sociopath's resultant breakdown leads to murderous frenzy and he becomes a danger to all around him, particularly to women…' This is not, however an extract from a criminal profiling report regarding the potential culprit of a recent murder. Nor are these lines ripped from a psychiatrist's reference book, nor are they the summing-up in a particularly disturbing court-case. They are, in fact, the plot of Handel's opera 'Orlando', which is presented by Opera Theatre Company in a musically brilliant, but occasionally overly light-hearted, version in the Town Hall Theatre, Galway.

The original 'Orlando Furioso' is an epic exploration of the subject of unrequited love. One of the longest poems in literature, the 500-year-old, 38,000-word ballad has influenced artists from Shakespeare, Vivaldi and Tiepolo, to even the creators of Games Workshop's fantasy role-play: 'Warhammer'. A great text has a universality that transcends time, and it is this quality that is appealed to by director Annilese Miskimmon in her pursuit of OTC's mission statement that the company's work should encompass 'accessibility, excitement and communication'. Miskimmon's just and almost evangelical quest to make this opera instantly relevant to a modern audience does, however, lead her to devise comic moments that do not always make sense.

Striding the ward of designer Simon Holdsworth's military hospital and then creeping through a forest of appositely livid Opium poppies, Orlando (William Towers) is a de-mobbed GI complete with dog-tags, biceps and post-traumatic stress disorder. Towers's superior, sensitive singing however, is rather betrayed by the decision to have him act as Bruce Willis crossed with Sylvester Stallone, sporting, even more bizarrely, a Roger Federer haircut. Consequently, his famous mad scenes are more funny than frightening. Reno Troilus, another fine countertenor as the cuckolding Medoro, is given naff glasses and anorak; he is less of a sexual rival than a warning of the dangers of procreation. It is difficult to see why Natasha Jouhl's glamorous femme-fatale, Angelica, thrusts herself upon him with such enthusiasm. Such are the mysteries of love, perhaps. Zoroastro (Jonathan Best) binds the improbable concoction together as a stern medical officer.

Comedy works best, however, in Dorinda. Played by the superb Mary Hegarty, in this production the shepherdess is a staff nurse who deals with her rejected overtures of love with the aid of cigarettes, whisky and resigned grimaces. Hegarty's versatility is highlighted by a wonderfully agile vocal ability and intelligent acting: indeed, despite the exuberance of everyone else on stage, it is her spurned woman who becomes more interesting than the title role.

The drama, though, is truly in the pit. Despite Orlando's blood spouting all over the viola player at one point, Handel's wonderfully literal score is given a very clean and lively performance by Christian Curnyn's band. It is a shrewdly balanced group that, whilst missing the resonance of the theorbo in the Galway performance, gives full scope to the breadth of Handel's writing. The small number of players and use of baroque instruments work well with the frequent countertenor solos, particularly in the muted, almost surreal, tones of Orlando's 'Oh Sweetest Oblivion'.

In Miskimmon's words, 'Opera takes over when other forms of communication fail'. Incomprehensibly brutal male behaviour has evidently been at the heart of most of history's worst crimes. OTC's team makes a brave stab at examining this tendency and they communicate their conclusions with conviction, despite one or two uncomfortably inappropriate moments of levity.

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