Benjamin Britten
Albert Herring
"The splendid cast of small-town characters, each a gem, might have stepped out of some fading photograph, complete with blooming aspidistra and a stuffed stag's head - a marvelous mix that the excellent production gleefully exploits."
Maria Prerauer, The Australian
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SUMMARY
Since its première at Glyndebourne in 1947, Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring has become a classic comprising a keenly observed, witty libretto and an evocative score. The comic depiction of a parochial English village springs to life with vivid characters, psychological truths and undertones of melancholy.
The story describes the election by committee of a shy local lad in a grocer’s shop as May King – a title ordinarily awarded to a virtuous girl as May Queen – but no one in the village can match the exacting standards of virtue held by Lady Billows. Naturally enough, the crowning of the May King doesn’t go to plan and Albert, an unusually backward boy, strays far from the path of virtue.
The splendid production, originally directed by John Cox and designed by Roger Butlin in 1976, is seldom performed but it remains an absorbing, hugely resonant satire about mob mentality and judgement. It is a fine-tuned vehicle for bravura singers with a flair for comedy. The sparks are sure to fly when Kanen Breen (Albert Herring) and Jacqueline Dark (Lady Billows) make their role debuts alongside a vibrant cast that includes Roxane Hislop, Dominica Matthews, Michael Lewis and Conal Coad. Opera Australia’s associate music director Anthony Legge conducts.
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