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Tobias and the Angel
THERE’S something very English about the kind of village arts festival that boasts a marquee in a muddy field as the venue for its most ambitious musical events, and it’s clear the denizens of Bollington are fiercely loyal to theirs.
They deter outsiders, too, in the style of Walmington-on-Sea, by getting Macclesfield council to hide any helpful signs for miles around, and avoiding visible directions to the tent within the village, the better to confuse the enemy.
But what they have in Jonathan Dove’s Tobias And The Angel is something rather special.
Billed as an opera, it’s in the tradition of those pieces Britten wrote for performance in church, using local community resources (and, based on an old Jewish tale, even calls forth memories of Joseph and his dreamcoat).
With high-quality soloists and a professional orchestra, it offers supporting roles, both for singing and parading with colourful trophies of trees, fish and so on for multitudes of schoolchildren, and for a mixed amateur chorus.
Distinguished singing
Once the drumming of the rain on the canvas roof had abated, on Monday night, it was possible to hear the distinguished singing of festival artists-in-residence Joe Damon Chappel as Tobit and Abigail Kelly as Sara.
Others who excelled were Matthew Moss as Tobias and Wayne Holt as Ashmodeus, and their colleagues Ksynia Reynolds, Richard Scott, Peter van Hulle and Elizabeth Hallam did not let the side down either.
Michael Barry has created an effective staging using simple resources, the cast managed some nifty dancing, and Nicholas Smith conducted the Festival Orchestra and his singers with efficiency, producing well balanced ensembles and lively rhythms. It is a lovely and rewarding piece.
Pity the off-stage chorus could not have memorised their modest parts: peering into ill-lit books in semi-darkness isn’t conducive to confident tone production.
And I hope someone points out to the kids that they are supposed to be audible while in the spotlight but less so, rather than more, while waiting their turn off-stage.
Repeated Wednesday, May 20.
Reviewed: Tue, 19 May, 2009
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