When there two occur together, the result can be outstanding.
Musically, Rodelinda is one of Handel’s finest works; plot-wise, it is a mess, even by the shambolic standards of most operas.
Rodelinda is the wife of Bertarido whose kingdom has been usurped by the evile Grimoaldo.
Bertarido has faked his own death, without telling his wife and son, and has now returned in disguise in oder to discover who is truly loyal to him. Grimoaldo wants to secure his grip on power by marrying Rodelinda, despite the fact that he is already betrothed to bertarido’s sister Eduige.
Meanwhile, Garibaldo, who is Grimoaldo’s henchman, secretly wants to marry Eduige himself, so is all in favour of Grimoaldo marrying Rodelinda.
Got it? Well, I told you it was silly.
Anyway, with everyone wanting to marry or kill everyone else, the plot is basically tragic, but this production by Richard Jones introduced some delightfully funny touches to turn it into a splendid tragi-comedy.
Moving the action from seventh century Italy to something much closer to the present day allows such neat tricks as having Bertarido sing one of his must soulful arias while drowning his sorrows in a neon-lit bar.
Such an anachronism is liable to infuriate any traditional Handelians, but it really brings the opera to life.
With this and so many other glorious arias and duets written without any real accompanying action, Richard Jones always gives us something to look at as well as listening.
The gorgoeus duet at the end of Act Two, when Rodelinda and Bertarido have been reunited but are forced apart again, is particularly beautifully staged, as their plight is accentuated by the two halves of the stage moving apart as the music progresses, separating the lovers with Grimoaldo triumphantly standing between them.
All the leading singers give beautiful performances, with Tim Mead (Bertarido) and Rebecca Evans (Rodelinda) the pick of a fine cast, but Juan Sancho (Grimoaldo) and Susan Bickley (Eduige) also excellent in the main roles.
The non-singing, non-speaking performance of Matt Casey as Rodelinda’s son is also worth a mention, bring some highly skilled (and very funny) mime to the action when someting out of the ordinary is most needed.
Perhaps best of all, however, was the music itself, with the orchestra, under Handel specialist Christian Curnyn, giving a sublime account of this composer’s glory.
It all added up to one of those evenings at the opera which sent everyone away smiling. Except the aforemention Handelian purists, of course, but I think they missed all the fun.
The ENO can be very serious about not taking itself too seriously, and as this production of Rodelinda shows, it is seriously good when it does so.
Box Office: 020 7845 9300 or www.eno.org (various dates until November 15)