Accessibility Tools

  • Content scaling 100%
  • Font size 100%
  • Line height 100%
  • Letter spacing 100%

Macbeth

West Australian Opera
by
ABR Arts 21 October 2019

Macbeth

West Australian Opera
by
ABR Arts 21 October 2019

In a much-cited letter to Francesco Maria Piave, his librettist for Macbeth, Verdi wrote, ‘This tragedy is one of the greatest creations of the human spirit. If we can’t do something great with it, let us at least try to do something out of the ordinary.’

As it happens, they did do something laudable with the Scottish Play. Verdi’s tenth opera, his first based on Shakespeare, was without precedent in its fierce integration of dramatic and musical elements; its cohesive narrative flow; and its consistently dark-hued tinta, or colour (brighter outbursts of coloratura aside).

The jury’s still out on whether this new Stuart Maunder-directed co-production between West Australian Opera and State Opera of South Australia is great or extraordinary. But it is immensely satisfying on a number of levels, with an effectively minimalist set, less minimalist costumes (both by Roger Kirk) and Trudy Dalgleish’s atmospheric, Caravaggesque lighting design.

From the New Issue

Leave a comment

If you are an ABR subscriber, you will need to sign in to post a comment.

If you have forgotten your sign in details, or if you receive an error message when trying to submit your comment, please email your comment (and the name of the article to which it relates) to ABR Comments. We will review your comment and, subject to approval, we will post it under your name.

Please note that all comments must be approved by ABR and comply with our Terms & Conditions.