Premiered at Covent Garden in 1737, but not performed there again until now, Giustino is the latest of Handel’s “London” operas to earn a modern Royal Opera revival. It tells the story of a sixth-century peasant-born soldier who brings order to the Byzantine empire of which he is eventually crowned ruler.
The piece offers narrative challenges for the director, some of which Joe Hill-Gibbins and his colleagues overcome with sensitive simplicity, scaling down the scene changes in favour of a largely bare, ochre-painted stage, across which lamps oscillate gently and mesmerisingly. Other moments, including Giustino’s encounters with a bear and a sea monster, feel more arbitrary and just a bit daft. For all that it contains fine scenes, you can see why Handel did not revive it.
