English National Opera - December 2022
Conductor - Martyn Brabbins
Director - Ruth Knight
Costume designer - Sarah Bowern
Wigs, hair and makeup design - Corrine Young
Lighting designer - Ian Jackson-French
Video designer - Barbora Šenoltová
Cast
Queen Elizabeth I - Christine Rice
Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex - Robert Murray
Frances, Countess of Essex - Paula Murrihy
Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy - Duncan Rock
Penelope, Lady Rich - Eleanor Dennis
Sir Robert Cecil - Charles Rice
Sir Walter Raleigh - David Soar
Henry Cuffe - Alex Otterburn
A Lady-in-Waiting - Alexandra Oomens
The Recorder of Norwich/A Ballad Singer - Willard White
A housewife - Claire Barnett-Jones
The Spirit of the Masque - Innocent Masuku
Reviews for Gloriana
***** “Superb singing and smart staging illuminate Britten’s coronation opera - ENO promised a concert performance, but Ruth Knight’s simple but effective staging, playing to a packed theatre, was much more. The chorus wore black and used scores, the protagonists were in period dress and sang from memory. Video projections provided historical detail and suggested the steady passing of time as it erodes people’s lives. Knight was particularly strong on the relationship between opportunism, hypocrisy and political machination as Robert Murray’s calculating Essex pressed his attentions on Christine Rice’s proud yet vulnerable Elizabeth in a world in which intrigue and gossip to some extent define and circumscribe both their lives.” The Guardian
**** “This was a concert staging by Ruth Knight, no mere read-through but a thoroughly prepared account: there was nothing to distract from the characters’ interaction up-front and close to the audience, backed by some tasteful projections and period costumes.” The Telegraph
**** “It was billed as a concert staging, but Ruth Knight’s production was a lot more handsome than that.” The Times
**** “Ruth Knight’s light-touch staging (costumes, lighting and video, but no props or sets) was perfectly judged.” i News