ED2015 4/5 Reviews ED2015 Musical Reviews

Tutte Contro Verdi (ISIFUERA SL)

By Louise Rodgers | Published on Wednesday 26 August 2015

The cry ‘Viva Verdi’ signalled the presence of freedom fighters during the Italian Revolution and so the title of this show is also the shout of a freedom fighter! Talented actress and soprano Miren de Miguel takes a passionately different view of traditional opera, examining it as a powerful medium stereotyping women’s roles in art and society. She portrays it as misogynistic, shallow and dehumanising. This is a clever piece of performance art and polemic punctuated with glorious arias sung sincerely and movingly as if in an opera performance; the poignancy of the beautiful prayer ‘Ave Maria’ from ‘Otello’ is quite hard to bear whilst the singer is fashioning a noose. Come for the arias, stay for the gender politics.

New Town Theatre, until 17 Aug
tw rating 4/5 | [Louise Rodgers]