Pagliacci review – Leoncavallo’s grand guignol staged with insight and commitment

Heralding a new era, Pagliacci and The Gondoliers are the first English Touring Opera productions to premiere in Sheffield, the company’s new home city. If the latter was a palpable hit on opening night, Leoncavallo’s slice of operatic grand guignol was less so, despite director Eleanor Burke’s valiant attempt to turn 19th-century verismo into a 21st-century psychodrama.

Some things work here and others don’t. Pointing up Nedda’s enduring love for Canio even as she plans to elope with Silvio heightens the final tragedy. Having the outstanding ETO ensemble portray the demons inside Canio’s head, urging him on to commit the final act of violence – here, strangling Nedda with a telephone cord – is a powerful device. Zeynep Kepekli’s meticulous lighting design ensures they are a watchful presence throughout while highlighting the prurient voyeurism that compels audiences to revel in other people’s domestic misfortunes.

On the downside, while programme notes speak of Byron, or Burton and Taylor, there is little tangible celebrity on show in this tawdry tale. Played out on Michael Pavelka’s utilitarian backstage set in Laura Jane Stanfield’s everyday costumes, the opening press conference, with three singers and not a journalist in sight, hamstrings the show from the get-go. Having her sing her aria as she’s marking up a play script downplays Nedda’s genuine longing for freedom, and Robin Norton-Hale’s new English translation doesn’t help either, low on poetry with too many off-kilter emphases. “Dress in your costume” is a poor substitute for “Vesti la giubba.”

A powerful device … Danny Shelvey as Silvio, Paula Sides as Nedda and Samm as Canio with the ensemble as the demons in his head. Photograph: Richard Hubert Smith

A committed cast helps. Ronald Samm is a tortured Canio, mentally shattered from the start, though the voice lacks true Italianate warmth. Paula Sides is a persuasive Nedda with Danny Shelvey a smooth-talking Silvio, Harry Grigg sweet-toned as Beppe and Matthew Siveter fielding some heroic top notes as Tonio.

Despite the shortcomings, Burke plays her hand deftly, deploying her actors with a keen eye for the dramatic image and building believable characters with emotional insight. She is matched by Gerry Cornelius’s solid interpretation of the score, though the string sound thins at times. Both, however, are stymied by the unnecessary interval, which drains the opera of any of the tension built in the first half.