South Africa

Theatre Review

Aida Abridged: A light-hearted take on a serious opera

Photo: SUPPLIED

Times are tough in the theatrical world. Once a composer like Verdi could summon a phalanx of opera singers, a 200-strong backing chorus, a full orchestra and magnificent sets. Now we’re down to two men, one pianist, and a couple of hat stands. Plus a lot of hats to put on them, as Verdi’s famous opera is restaged as Aida Abridged.

The seriously shaved-down opera was conceived and directed by Greg Homann, and one thing it isn’t short of is creativity. A huge amount of vision and work has gone into it. Not as much as went into Aida un-abridged, of course, but Homann has added fun and frivolity and liberally augmented the Italian libretto with parts in English so those of us not too cognoscenti with Italian can follow the plot.

What hasn’t been sacrificed too much is the quality of the singing, with Clint Lesch and Len-Barry Simons both having wonderful voices with a great vocal span, which is handy when you’re playing beguiling women then sonorous pharaohs a moment later. Lesch has adapted the original music for this pocket-sized production, and they’re accompanied by a flawless Wessel Odendaalon the piano. Purists might complain, but the actual opera arias and duets are really very credible. Both actors also have a great sense of timing and the ability to physically convey their emotions.

The plot remains largely intact, although neatly truncated, with its epic story about love and loyalty set in ancient Egypt. Egypt is at war with Ethiopia, and Egypt’s General Radames (Simons) is in love with Aida (Lesch), an Ethiopian princess held as a slave by Amneris, an Egyptian princess. Both women are in love with Radames, who is sent into battle against Ethiopia, leaving Aida torn between her love for him and for her country.

Photo: Supplied

The actors don madly styled makarapa headgear to show which character they’re playing, and a roll of brown paper that gradually unfurls to illustrate the plot helps enormously. It also adds to the laughs being created by the costume switches, physical actions and the sheer absurdity of it all.

Other inventive touches include ostrich feathers dyed green to turn hat stands into palm trees and stencil cut-outs to bring legions of warriors to life against a neatly painted backdrop of the pyramids.

There were a few moments when I found my attention wandering, but mostly to ponder the effort behind this wacky reworking, the precarious financial state of the theatre in general, and to wonder how many people will actually come and see it.

While there are comic touches in the actions and the music, it’s not an outright comedy as much as a light-hearted take on a serious opera. To tell the truth, I’d far rather watch this entertaining potted version than squirm my way through the original. DM

Aida Abridged runs at Sandton’s Auto & General Theatre on the Square until January 31. Tickets from Computicket.

Gallery

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

X

This article is free to read.

Sign up for free or sign in to continue reading.

Unlike our competitors, we don’t force you to pay to read the news but we do need your email address to make your experience better.


Nearly there! Create a password to finish signing up with us:

Please enter your password or get a sign in link if you’ve forgotten

Open Sesame! Thanks for signing up.

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options