A programme essay asks what there is to laugh about in Donizetti’s Elixir of Love. It’s a good question to ask about an opera whose two main characters spend much of the evening being unhappy. But the answer, in Martin Constantine’s well judged new production for English Touring Opera, is – plenty. With witty sets and costumes by April Dalton, Constantine’s production neatly transports the setting from rural Italian village to English coastal town, but with no loss of the music’s sparkle, affability or poignancy.
The setting offers Constantine the use of almost every available cliche of the rundown English seaside resort – there are donkey rides, a fish and chip van, a pair of lifeguards, a solitary fisherman in sou’wester and oilskins, as well as a theatre that has seen better days. Though it stops short of the Donald McGill world of double entendre postcards, that’s maybe because there’s a contemporary point being made here too. A conman from outside arrives in town to play the pivotal role in this opera, and Dr Dulcamara’s snake-oil elixir has a delicate whiff of Farage, never overstated, about it.
Sung in English, in the late Amanda Holden’s deft and vivid translation, and with a reduced orchestra impressively conducted by Alice Farnham, this is a show that scarcely misses a beat. Donizetti’s pre-Wagnerian use of the Tristan and Isolde legend as an echo of Nemorino and Adina’s quest for love is cleverly embodied. Ensembles and stage business are notably well marshalled at several points, and the costumes are often surreal – one character dresses as a fish, another as a 99 ice-cream cone. Nemorino’s tendency to climb up onto the van roof remains a bit of mystery.
Tamsanqa Tylor Lamani captures Nemorino’s optimism and pathos. He really makes one care about his quest for love. His is, though, a notably small-voiced tenor, and his nasal sound is stretched by the opera’s most famous aria, Una furtiva lagrima. Natasha Page’s Adina has an impressive range of vocal colours and she sings with increasing conviction as the evening goes on. Though the two are a winning pair of lovers, the dominant stage and vocal presence is Emyr Wyn Jones as Dulcamara, who commands the show whenever he gets the chance, and for whom bigger things surely beckon. Timothy Nelson gives Nemorino’s rival Belcore plenty of testosterone, while singing the role with refinement; and Rosie Lomas is a bright-voiced Gianetta.