Monday 1st August - Saturday 7th August 2009
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Opera at the Cinema 2009
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For lovers of opera this was a real treat and an opportunity to see five rarely-screened, yet very special films, at the Festival Cinema. None of the films are conventional relays from the opera house - they are films in their own right, which open up new possibilities for the enjoyment of opera as a proper screen experience.
The Turn of the Screw - Britten
Monday 3rd August 2009
A fitting start to our week of opera on film from one of Gresham School's most famous alumni.
Acclaimed theatre director Katie Mitchell filmed this version of Britten's claustrophobic masterpiece, based on the Henry James story, in and around Fulbeck Hall in Lincolnshire. The terrifying figure of the ghost, Peter Quint, becomes a tangible threat as the newly arrived governess seeks to protect the children, Miles and Flora. Mitchell successfully uses filmic technique to blur the boundaries between the living and the dead.
Bohème - Puccini
Tuesday 4th August 2009
Four young men - an artist, a playwright, a musician and a philosopher live in a "Withnail and I"-like celebration of drink, drugs and bad behaviour. Their lives are irrevocably changed when the playwright Rodolfo falls in love with the enigmatic Mimi. Blind to her drug problem he is consumed only by immature sexual jealousy, and his obsession brings their relationship to an end. When Mimi returns, terminally ill, the boys are forced to comprehend the painful reality of growing up.
Shot on film entirely on location in South East London, written and directed by Holt Festival Artistic Director, Tony Britten
Rigoletto - Verdi
Wednesday 5th August 2009
1960's Rigoletto, the hunched jester, has a beautiful daughter. He loves her so much, he is overprotecting her. She is not permitted to go the city; it might be dangerous for her. Having contact with a man is absolutely out of the question. The married womaniser Duca finds Gilda very attractive, but it's hard to get near her. Some employees of Duca kidnap Gilda, so Duca can have his evil way with her. When Rigoletto finds out, he takes revenge, with tragic consequences. Production by the Opera Spanga company in the Netherlands.
Gloriana - Britten
Thursday 6th August 2009
Originally written for the coronation of Elizabeth II, 'Gloriana' is Phyllida Lloyd's acclaimed adaptation of Benjamin Britten's popular opera which tells the story of the previous Elizabeth's relationship with the Earl of Essex. Paul Daniel conducts the English Northern Sinfonia, with a cast inspired by electrifying performances from Josephine Barstow and Tom Randall as Elizabeth I and Essex.
Using the Opera North production as its basis, the film dares to offer a radical approach to Britten's opera, with scenes shot on stage to present the public events that the audience sees in the theatre, interleaved with backstage scenes to represent the private world of the queen
Falstaff - Verdi
Friday 7th August 2009
This is a new English version written and directed by the Festival Artistic Director, Tony Britten.
At a golf club near Windsor, 'Big John' Falstaff props up the bar at the nineteenth hole which is where he is invariably to be found. He doesn't actually play golf, because no-one wants to play with him - and anyway, he's probably too plump to make it beyond the first green. However he takes comfort in the fact that his bar bill is about to be settled, and all he has to do to achieve this extraordinary feat is to seduce the lovely Alice Ford, a task that he considers himself eminently qualified to undertake.
As the big man blunders from one catastrophe to another and the plot races towards its uproarious conclusion, Tony Britten's trademark wit and accessibility perfectly complements Verdi's glorious comedy.
Filmed on location in North Norfolk.