A child’s fantasy or a skewering of grown-up power games? James Brining’s production of The Magic Flute for Opera North, first seen in 2019 and revived for the second time this season, has a foot in both camps. Initially framed as the dream of the young girl seen heading for bed during the overture – its heroes, villains, and monsters conjured up from her toy box and a fractious family life – things turn starker and darker in Sarastro’s palace, where misogyny and casual corruption undermine any cultish declamations about truth and love.
It’s still not a wholly satisfactory staging – the final tableau in particular is so enigmatic that the audience on opening night were audibly uncertain the show had ended, and forays into feminism also feel underdeveloped – but its humour and dramatic momentum are admirable, and there’s a healthy helping of kooky visual appeal courtesy of Colin Richmond’s sets and Douglas O’Connell’s video designs.
