The Marriage of Figaro

• Carol Main
• 11 August 2015

This article is from 2015.

Credit: Eszter Gordon

Scottish-born Marie McLaughlin stars in Iván Fischer's take on Mozart's classic opera

Opera’s reputation as a notoriously expensive art form is hardly ill-earned considering all that’s involved in putting on a fully staged production. Concert performances of the music have their place, but aren’t the same. In between the two falls Iván Fischer’s model, not so much a cut-price compromise, but a new way of presenting opera altogether. For The Marriage of Figaro, with Fischer’s own Budapest Festival Orchestra, audiences can expect some fresh light to be shed on Mozart’s all-time favourite.

‘I don’t know how much I can give away,’ says Scottish-born soprano Marie McLaughlin, who plays Marcellina. She goes on to reveal that the cast sing in the middle of the orchestra (which is on stage), that there are costumes, wigs, full lighting, a couple of podiums to raise the singers and bridal attire landing on their heads from somewhere up above.

McLaughlin is no newcomer to Figaro, having started her career at the Royal Opera House singing Barbarina, then Susanna, a role she has performed hundreds of times all over the world, and Cherubino, before currently enjoying great success as Marcellina. Her EIF visit is a rare Scottish appearance.

The Festival Theatre, 529 6000, 13–16 Aug (not 14), 7pm, £8--£68.