© Marc Brenner
Premiering in Milan in 1832, The Elixir of Love, with a libretto by Felice Romani, is one of Gaetano Donizetti’s most popular operas. Originally set in a village in the Basque Country at the end of the eighteenth century, it sees the peasant Nemorino love the landowner Adina, even as she tells him she is fickle and that he should forget her. When, however, she reads the legend of Tristan and Isolde, Nemorino is inspired to ask travelling quack doctor Dulcamara if he has any of the potion that enabled Tristan to win his love. Dulcamara says that he does while selling Nemorino half a bottle of Bordeaux. He also tells him that it takes twenty-four hours to work, by which time he plans to be well away from the village.
When Sergeant Belcore arrives on a recruitment drive he attempts to woo Adina. She agrees to marry him, but only to teach Nemorino, who has feigned indifference towards her while he waits for the potion to work, a lesson. Nemorino is scared that the wedding will take place before his potion has worked its magic, but then news spreads (though not to Nemorino or Adina) that Nemorino’s rich uncle has just died, leaving him with a fortune. Nemorino suddenly finds that all of the women of the village are chasing him. He erroneously believes this is a result of the potion, and momentarily enjoys his newfound popularity as much as Adina discovers she hates it. This forces her to admit that she loves him, and the pair come together after which Nemorino learns of his inheritance. Thus, as Belcore blithely declares that there are plenty more fish in the sea, Dulcamara finds a new market for his ‘elixir’, which he now claims helps people to find wealth as well as love!
Segomotso Masego Shupinyaneng, Rhian Lois, ENO’s The Elixir of Love 2024 © Marc Brenne
Harry Fehr’s new production for English National Opera moves the action to an English country estate during the Second World War. He actually presents it as a 1970s situation comedy, so that the stage’s front cloth reveals a television that contains the words ‘ENO Colour’, and a revolving globe like the one that tops the London Coliseum. During the Overture, superbly conducted by Teresa Riveiro Böhm on her ENO debut, video designer Matt Powell creates pictures on the screen that constitute the opening credits for the ‘programme’ The Elixir of Love that we are about to watch. They tell us that Rhian Lois is playing Adina, and reveal how Dulcamara is a black marketeer by introducing the character alongside a wartime poster calling for them to be stamped out.
When the curtain rises it reveals the huge kitchen below ground level in Adina’s country house, courtesy of designer Nicky Shaw. All of the chorus members enter to be served with lunch as they bring in the harvest. They comprise Land Girls, soldiers and airmen waiting to be posted, well-to-do women doing their bit for the war effort, the house’s permanent staff and members of the Home Guard. The latter group give more than just a few nods to the British situation comedy Dad’s Army, and as this The Elixir of Love is being shown in the 1970s, it is not unfeasible that that programme could follow it on the television.
While the original opera is about a small community, this setting makes it even more close-knit by giving it a common purpose in the form of the fight against Hitler. This explains why Adina would allow everyone into her kitchen when she would be unlikely to do so in peacetime. If war is a leveller of sorts, it does not mean that hierarchies are entirely flattened, but altering them just a little for this opera works well. Even in the original, the set-up is such that the humble peasant Nemorino does have some access to the landowner Adina, so if anything this staging provides a greater reason for why this should be so.
Dulcamara is a black marketeer who actually comes into Adina’s kitchen to peddle his wares. While under normal circumstances this would seem a strange act, one suspects that Adina has invited him in to keep her workforce happy by helping them to obtain certain scarce items. It is noticeable how Adina sneaks out before Dulcamara commences ‘Udite, udite, o rustici’, realising that she needs to be seen to keep her distance as he actually sells his goods. She may also be planning to speak with him later to arrange some things she needs for the estate, but it certainly appears as if she knows him, which provides a better reason than normally exists for why she invites him to her wedding feast.
The Cast of ENO's The Elixir of Love 2024 © Marc Brenner
Act II moves from downstairs in the country house to a drawing room upstairs for the wedding feast, and it is feasible that Adina might invite the entire community into her home for a special occasion during a tough war. There is quite a strong dynamic to the evening, and when Dulcamara sings ‘Udite, udite, o rustici’ two assistants open up a series of boxes to reveal his wares. Many duets see additional people grace the stage and, while this sometimes risks diluting the interaction between the two central protagonists, there are some compensatory factors. When Nemorino asks Dulcamara for a bottle of Iove potion, his assistants scuttle around pouring the content of the quack doctor’s hip flask into a bottle to produce what he has requested. The set-up also enables Dulcamara to speak some lines that are intended as asides to the audience to his assistants. When Belcore, who here is an RAF pilot, persuades Nemorino to join up, the latter engages in a routine with two other airmen, courtesy of movement director Anjali Mehra, comprising marching and various physical exercises. There is a strong attention to detail throughout so that when Adina sings ‘Io son ricco e tu sei Bella’ with Dulcamara, she reveals how she is thinking of Nemorino when normally she proves how she can be a ‘showman’ by throwing herself wholeheartedly into the song. During it, Dulcamara reproduces a certain reclining pose on a chaise longue that Nemorino had adopted on a sideboard in the kitchen in Act I.
Rhian Lois demonstrates great consistency as throughout the evening she shows how she has the right mannerisms and voice for the part of Adina. Thomas Atkins reveals a convincing lovelorn persona as Nemorino, and his mighty and expansive tenor makes his performance of the iconic ‘Una furtiva lagrima’ particularly passionate. Brandon Cedel as Dulcamara is possessed of a rich bass-baritone that is still possessed of enough lightness and flexibility to tackle ‘Udite, udite, o rustici’ effectively. Dan D’Souza displays a notably firm and aesthetically pleasing baritone as Belcore, while there is strong support from Segomotso Masego Shupinyaneng as Giannetta. At 12.30pm on 5 December there is a relaxed performance that sees Ava Dodd sing Adina, Joseph Doody play Nemorino and Timothy Nelson assume the role of Belcore.
By Sam Smith
The Elixir of Love | 15 November - 5 December 2024 | London Coliseum
the 17 of November, 2024 | Print
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