The Turk in Italy - Rossini

What are hopes and expectations for the large expense of a night at an Opera? For us -enjoyable vocal music- especially from gifted soloists,
-large scale and lively visual drama,
-eye catching sets.
The plot can be incredible so long as not too conflicted with mix ups between periods.
After our experience with this Opera production (and also last year with Aida at the Bastille) we must add desiderata about the libretto: last year we were put off by insertions of current political clichés;  Turk in Italy was spoilt for us by surtitles and matching choreography emphasising banal and narcissistic sexual behaviour clichés.
 
Photo - ccc-canberracriticscircle.blogspot.com
 A lampoon of a debauched party hosted by Belusconi may not be too far from Italian reality either now, or in the 1950s chosen for this production setting (or even earlier in the 20th century in the literally awful story of the appetites of Gabriele d'Annunzio) but even those living caricatures of warped sexual mores would not have resorted to use of the vulgar spoken terms employed in the surtitles of this Opera- an apology is owed to the original librettist. Enough already!
While not without its moments, especially in the opening tableaux vivants, the style in sum is for us not comedic but repulsive. What a contrast to the memories of sophisticated fun and joy in treatment of quite similar ideas in Die Fledermaus! (Vienna 2012)

The chorus looked uncomfortable in bathing outfits, Emma Matthews and Anna Dowsley both did justice to their song roles, though Emma seemed somewhat jaded. Anna was delightful, almost saving the night.

Night on Bald Mountain- Patrick White

We are not enthusiastic in engagement  with Patrick White.  I declined to finish his novel The Vivisector in 2012 as the story was unbearable. But since those with finer literary and dramatic tastes than ours have awarded him accolades we decided to include this rarely performed play (now in its 50th year) in our Malthouse theatre subscription .
This was a rewarding experience, from the creative mountain set and remarkable solo musical accompaniment for the script, to all of the the superbly attuned actors.

The story is not uplifting - the self-destruction of an alcoholic, the self-destruction of a naive and over-confidant young woman, the sad self-assessed inadequacy in old age of a writer manqué.

 
 Melita Jurisic -from Guardian photo

This was a worthwhile, if dark, experience of a tragedy. The critics mainly praise the performance by Melita Jurisic as the alcoholic and Peter Carroll as the intellectual. However I agree with one critic that the goat lady Julie Forsyth "is dream casting as Miss Quodling: she is at once a clown and a seer, a character in the tradition of Shakespeare’s Fools, and she compellingly unites the vulgar, the lyric and the tragic."

 Julie Forsyth- from Herald Sun

I thought Nikki Shiels as the young nurse deserved more of wrap than the reviewers seem to have given her.

 Nikki Shiels and Peter Carroll - from Malthouse