Cast
Press
© Rupert Christiansen – The Telegraph: “Together with his brilliant designers Johan Engels (sets), Ashley Martin-Davis (costumes) and Bruno Poet (lighting), the director Martin Duncan has created a forest of eerily translucent Perspex, in which Tytania and Oberon are robed in glittering Courrèges splendour and the Athenian lovers have been shopping in Carnaby Street.”
© George Hall – The Stage: “Rarely do the various elements of Britten’s opera come together as perfectly as they do in Martin Duncan’s new production. (…) two of the main contributions stand out as raising the evening to the heights. One is the designs of Johan Engels (sets) and Ashley Martin-Davis (costumes), a psychedelic sixties extravaganza, wonderfully lit by Bruno Poet. They are entrancing.”
© Geoffrey Mogridge – Wharfedale Observer: “Martin Duncan’s new production for Opera North is in perfect harmony with both Britten and Shakespeare. Duncan just flows along with the music and the action. Johan Engels’ setting of tall perspex screens and giant floating soap’ bubbles together with Ashley Martin-Davis’s vibrant and, for the Fairy Royals – literally dazzling costumes – create a fantastical, modern environment. Bruno Poet’s bold lighting bathes the stage in bright pinks, orange and blue to heighten the sense of wonderment and the childlike atmosphere of fairytale magic and mystery. It is difficult not to imagine that the composer would have been immensely proud of these musicians, the singers and entire creative team involved in this production. Clearly, Britten and Shakespeare are not the only master magicians to have been at work.”
Production
