Tuesday 21 October 2025
Lowry Theatre, Salford
****
Minimalist Design Meets Comedy and Psychological Realism in ENO’s first production in the North
This was an evening of firsts. Surprisingly, this production is the first time that English National Opera (ENO) has performed Benjamin Britten’s 1947 comic opera, Albert Herring. ENO grew out of Sadler’s Wells Opera, which premiered Britten’s first opera, Peter Grimes, in 1945. Tuesday evening was also the first time ENO performed in Salford as part of its new venture in Greater Manchester.
The opera is set in the fictional small town of Loxford, between Ipswich and Aldeburgh in East Sussex. Traditionally, the stage setting is divided between Lady Billows’ aristocratic home, Mrs Herring’s grocer’s shop, and the marquee where Albert is crowned May King during the May Day festival. The Glyndebourne production, directed by Peter Hall 40 years ago, featured complex sets for all three locations. It was filmed by the BBC and later released on DVD.
ENO’s director and designer, the award-winning Antony McDonald, said he had created another first for some audience members, ‘I hope it takes [them] by surprise… we’re not doing this in an Edwardian style, as it has been before, with glamorous frocks, big hats and a marquee.’
McDonald’s set was minimalis; in his words, ‘pared back… simplified’. It consisted of two large wooden walls, each with a window and a door, which would look at home in one of the modern architectural designs in Channel 4’s Grand Designs or an IKEA catalogue. We were invited to see the stage workings, which are usually hidden from the audience. The stage manager, played by the actor Ashton Hall, was on stage throughout the production, doing sound effects and changing the time on a massive clock. During the scene in which Albert was crowned as May King, the production broke the fourth wall when Hall held up signs for us to applaud the speeches of the dignitaries, as if we were watching the filming of a TV show. When the scene changed, very visible stagehands changed the sign above, so we knew we were in Herrings’ Grocers rather than Lady Billows’ mansion.
McDonald’s concept was bold: ‘I’m slightly allergic to 19th-century opera, actually.’ His advantage was that as director and designer, he could follow through on his design concept. His minimalist style allowed him to concentrate on the psychological aspects of the libretto, expertly written by Eric Crozier from a short story by French novelist Guy de Maupassant, Le Rosier de madame Husson. He treated the opera as a stage play, a decision justified by the fast-moving text and the small chamber orchestra. This isn’t an opera which revels in long, beautiful arias or grand orchestral music; there’s no chorus.
McDonald’s cast rose to the task superbly. In the first half, the hypocrisy and egotism of small-town England were revealed. Lady Billows (Emma Bell) was pompous and robustly sung. Superintendent Budd (Andri Björn Róbertsson) was resolutely gruff and officious. The head teacher, Miss Wordsworth (Aoife Miskelly), was self-centred and superficial. The Mayor, Mr Upfold (Mark Le Brocq) was suitably smarmy, fawning and obsequious. Mr Gedge, the Vicar, (Eddie Wade) was seen chasing children with sweets. The housekeeper, Florence Pike, was superbly drawn as a scheming sidekick to Lady Billows, intent on destroying the reputation of all the girls in the town. They sang beautifully together in the ensemble sections.
In the first half, we also met some more sympathetic characters. Sid (Dan D’Souza) was a swaggering but warmly sung young lover. Nancy ((Anna Elizabeth Cooper) was warm-hearted, with a lovely light soprano voice. Their duet was a delight, ardently sung. Albert (Caspar Singh), who sang with a beautiful lyrical tenor voice, was a downtrodden figure, isolated and firmly under his mother’s thumb (Leah-Marian Jones), who was happy to embarrass her son for the £25 prize money. We were drawn into his inner life when we saw how lonely he felt when observing the young lovers. Nobody seemed to care that wearing white as May King would advertise his virginal status to the whole town. The highlight of the first half was the duo of Abigail Sinclair as Emmie and Natasha Oldbury as Cis, who lit up the stage with perfect comic timing and tremendous enthusiasm.
The opera’s second half revealed a darker side of Britten’s vision, compared with the light-hearted social comedy of the first half. This was the Britten who had exposed the cruelty of small-town life in Peter Grimes and the isolation of the central character in that opera.
In the meantime, there was a chance for the orchestra to shine in an Interlude, which they played superbly, bringing out the endless invention of Britten’s score under the vigorous and precise baton of Daniel Cohen. The audience listened in spellbound admiration.
We gained further insight into Albert’s inner life when he returned home after Sid and Nancy had spiked his drink at the May Day celebrations. We learned that he had some hope that Nancy might have an eye for him despite her being with Sid. We understood his isolation: ‘Girls don’t care for chaps like me.’ There was a genuinely poignant moment when he watched the lovers, Sid and Nancy, as an outsider looking through the window. His desolation was complete when he realised how others viewed him:
‘Nancy pities me – Sid laughs – others snigger
At my simplicity
Offer me buns to stay in my cage.’
Albert finally decided to break away from his mother’s grip and the shackles of petty society that constrained him. He disappeared on a bender, possibly losing his virginity along the way.
What had been a farce looked more like a tragedy when the other characters thought he was dead. Nancy’s regret at spiking Albert’s drink showed genuine emotion, although tinged with self-pity. She understood for the first time that Sid was selfish. Mrs Herring expressed a mother’s grief movingly, singing poignantly at the bottom of her range. Miss Wordsworth and Mr Gedge comforted her with real feeling. There was a profoundly moving Threnody, sung by all the cast, as they one by one recounted their memories of the supposedly dead Albert. Britten’s direction here is that it should be sung ‘quietly and with intense feeling’, and the cast excelled in delivering Britten’s stunning music in accordance with his wishes.
But the tragic atmosphere was punctured by the arrival of Albert, evidently not dead. Rather than celebrating his return, the cast reverted to type, immediately questioning his morality rather than caring about his welfare. After a brief and perfunctory apology, Albert described his ‘wild explosion.’ Only Sid and Nancy, the only other truly human characters in the opera, understood how important Albert’s new freedom was. This was the voice of a composer who lived on the edge of society and was fascinated by innocence and the role of conventional morality. To celebrate his new-found freedom, Albert kissed Nancy. In his excitement, he also kissed Sid, an addition to the opera that would no doubt have secretly delighted Britten.
This excellent production was superbly directed and acted, with fine singing and marvellous orchestral playing. A large and enthusiastic audience welcomed ENO to the North. We have much to look forward to if future ENO productions here are of this quality.
Cast and performers
Emma Bell Lady Billows
Carolyn Dobbin Florence Pike
Aoife Miskelly Miss Wordsworth
Eddie Wade Mr Gedge
Mark Le Brocq Mr Upfold
Andri Björn Róbertsson Superintendent Budd
Dan D’Souza Sid
Caspar Singh Albert Herring
f Nancy
Leah-Marian Jones Mrs Herring
Abigail Sinclair Emmie
Natasha Oldbury Cis
Henry Karp Harry
Ashton Hall (actor) stage manager
Daniel Cohen conductor
Anthony McDonald director and designer
More Britten Opera…