My second visit to this lovely pub theatre (the last one was only one week ago), and it is already becoming a favourite fringe theatre venue for me. This time I had come to watch Madame Chandelier's Rough Guide To Opera. Given the title, and its obvious association with a certain series of books, I knew that it would be light-hearted and easy to follow. I am open to all forms of theatre, and although obviously prefer some above others, I have sat through a couple of operas in my time - and been seriously bored stiff by them!
Operas are an odd genre. Considered by most to be somewhat elitist, stuffy, and pompous; these adjectives can be bandied about at opera, but not exclusively opera, and by no means all opera. Things which tend to make the public stay away from opera in their droves are a) the language barrier b) the price of the tickets and c) they think it's not for them, opera is too far above them.
Enter Delia Shand (I think / hope that was her name), and her rough guide. And what a breath of fresh air she was too! Starting with a silly drinking game, and complete with accordeon and dressed like Brunhilde [an obvious opera costume! - most of us will know the piece of music called 'Ride Of The Valkyries', even if we didn't know which opera it is taken from], Shand proceded to chat, sing, demystify, and basically take the mickey out of the opera form and many of the more well known materpieces, right up until the final rousing chorus (audience participation of course!) of Nessun Dorma!
Shand has a lovely voice, I would imagine classically trained, but doesn't give us the full 'colloratura' thankfully, whilst switching frequently from stand-up toaudience participation to anecdote and back again to song, basically making the operas much more interesting and indeed fun. If you don't know anything about opera, then this is a perfect way to start - and if you are already a fan of the genre, then you'll see things in a completely new light by the end of this 45 minute one-woman show. With some very funny gags, (has Shand missed her way as a stand-up comedienne?), calculated silliness, and a genuine love of the opera she cannot fail to make you come away feeling more knowledgeable and more confident to chat over dinner about your new found love.... "yes of course, most operas have a young heroine played by a lady in her mid forties who falls in love but dies before the end of the second act, daaahlink!"
Reviewer - Chris Benchley
on - 18/1/20
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