Bobbing across choppy black waters towards land, we reach a rocky shore, infertile but for a few sad palm trees. Only in the bewitchings of Handel’s sorceress-chatelaine does the island become a mirage of lush green whorls and juicy succulents. Opera North’s new Alcina, directed by Tim Albery, opens with this striking imagery on a film backdrop. Throughout, the visual device works hard to provide the magic in Handel’s fantasy tale of 1735.
The company describes this as its “first sustainable mainstage production”, an important milestone, if not entirely successful in result. The main props are blue velvet club-style chairs and a lighting rig that rises and falls as required. Two sorceresses – Alcina and her sister Morgana – lure susceptible men into their domain. Quickly bored, Alcina wizards her rejected lovers into animals, stones and trees. (The programme note explains, lest any were unsure, that this is a metaphor.)
