‘Four boxes, six screens, four chairs and a tree”: the sum total of scenery for Wild Arts’ new English-language production of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro is modest by operatic standards. This staging needs to travel light, since it’s destined for performances in more than 20 arts centres, theatres, churches and gardens across the UK over the next three months. But leave pondering the logistics to the professionals – the miraculous thing about this bare-essentials Figaro is how well it works in situ. Particularly given that its director is entirely new to the role.
Danielle de Niese is not just any first-timer, of course. The Australian-born, Glyndebourne-dwelling star soprano made her debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera aged 19 as Barbarina in Mozart’s opera, and in the decades since has sung the role of Susanna all over the world. Few directorial newbies could match such inside-out knowledge of this work and its characters.
