The Fairy Queen

There was a concert performance of The Fairy Queen at this year's Proms and a member of the cast commented that it is almost impossible to stage and even if you could get over the technical problems it would be prohibitively expensive. It may be true that the original production, in 1692 almost bankrupted Purcell's theatre company but this production from 1995 by English National Opera shows that all you need is a moderate amount of money and a lot of imagination.

The Fairy Queen is a semi-opera, a peculiarly 17th century English form. Purcell used a much cut version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and added to it a series of songs and masques. While it would be pointless to try to recreate Purcell's piece in this form, the stage director David Pountney uses the songs and dances to create a recognisable version of Shakespeare's play that is part opera and part ballet. Outstanding amongst the singers is Yvonne Kenney as Titania, and amongst the dancers Simon Rice as Puck, although it was not clear why he wore a bra throughout. But this really is an ensemble piece that makes for a deliciously entertaining and not too demanding evening's viewing.