Director Katie Mitchell’s production of Lucia di Lammermoor, first seen in 2016 and now revived by Robin Tebbutt, turns Gaetano Donizetti’s opera inside out, to show its audience Lucia’s story fleshed out as a feminist gothic tale.
Although Lucia is the focal character, much of her personal story occurs off-stage. She is off-stage when she mourns the death of her mother, when she murders the man she was forced to marry, and when she finally takes her own life. Mitchell’s production stages Lucia’s intimate moments in a split screen theatre, with one half following the opera, and the other exhibiting Lucia in more intimate spaces.
It is a declaration of Lucia’s self-will, and an effective counter to familiar representations of women’s madness. For all that the production introduces a pointed critique of Donizetti’s masterpiece, not to mention opera more broadly, it is this production’s lead soprano that centres the audience’s attention.
Nadine Sierra’s Lucia is both vocally astounding and totally captivating. Her soprano projects rich waves of bel canto singing that soar from the stage. Lucia’s earnest love for Edgardo is articulated with great warmth and tenderness, while her slow descent into depression, partly provoked in this production by Mitchell’s addition of a miscarriage, is entirely consumed with grief. There can be no denying Sierra’s star qualities but they are accompanied with an overwhelming and exquisite attention to artistry.
Sierra, however, is not the only singer at the top of their game in this production. Xabier Anduaga, singing Edgardo, is delightfully intense. Full of passionate ardour but also gothic brooding, he is an excellent match for Sierra’s heart-strong Lucia.
So too is Artur Ruciński’s fearsome Enrico Ashton, Lucia’s brother, who forces her to marry the wealthy Arturo. With his earthy baritone ringing in your ears, it is hard not to cower from your seat on Lucia’s behalf.
This exceptional cast are all aided by the ROH chorus, who help the tension reach a fever pitch in the final act. In a stroke of genius from Mitchell, even the female members of the chorus are dressed as men when Lucia’s madness reaches its height. As one sound, they witness the tragedy, chronicling Lucia’s grief as a unified patriarchal voice.
The more tender moments in the score are given their full dues by conductor Giacomo Sagripanti. Under his orchestration, the pit was allowed to reach its full, breath-taking, colour, in accordance with the extraordinary singing.
Save for the slight overuse of ghostly apparitions in Mitchell’s vision, this revival of Lucia di Lammermoor is an almost perfectly pitched production. A stunning lead soprano in an absorbing take on a nineteenth century operatic masterpiece – what more could you ask for?
Lucia di Lammermoor is on now at the ROH – book here