Downright deceit, charm, wronged women determined to avenge, a raging storm … Mozart’s opera about the pathological liar and libertine could hardly seem more contemporary. When Welsh National Opera’s 2011 production was revived in 2018 – circa #MeToo – it appeared timely, but, with this latest revival, perhaps the reality is that it will always be so.
Designer John Napier’s set, inspired by Auguste Rodin’s The Gates of Hell, creates the suitably tenebrous background to original director John Caird’s concept, underlining what is already the spoiler-alert of the title, Don Giovanni or The Dissolute Punished. The ironically whiter-than-white garb of the dashing don and the grey of his servant Leporello go against the setting’s general darkness, while the other costumes reflect the burnished colours of Spanish Golden Age. Yet, from the outset, Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo da Ponte’s mix of serious and the jocose has always meant that the audience is appalled and amused by turns. This is an infinitely delicate balance, so it was unfortunate that conductor Tobias Ringborg hurricaned his way through the overture, with the problem of raggedness never quite resolved for the rest of the evening.
