Sophisticated affair at Longborough Festival Opera (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Sophisticated affair at Longborough Festival Opera

FOR those of us who used to brave the elements to watch opera in the gardens of Old Banks Fee House and eat our sandwiches in the Graham family's garden, while Martin, dressed in DJ and trainers, drove round on his tractor putting finishing touches to the site, a visit to Longborough Festival Opera now somehow always comes as a surprise.

It's become a very sophisticated affair with the audience dressed to kill, gourmet picnics on tables lit by candelabra and even a helicopter landing after the show to pick up some of the smarter spectators.

Before the opera begins we gather in the magnificent foyer before proceeding to the thoroughly transformed chicken shed where we sit on comfortable seats rescued from the Royal Opera House when it was revamped and enjoy the singing in great comfort.

In the interval queues for the loos are drastically reduced because of the large number now available. And so to the opera.

Cosi fan Tutte is a pretty silly story. What pair of girls in their right minds would move from engagement to one set of lovers to marriage with another set in the course of 24 hours.

But this production, set in a remote outpost of British India in the 1840s, when naive girls came out from England to be engaged to men they hardly knew, makes more sense of the fact that they then fall so quickly for a pair of 'maharajas'.

In any case, Mozart's magical music more than makes up the weakness of the so-called plot.

Longborough Festival Opera and Visible Music Productions gave a rendering of Mozart's masterpiece which gained in momentum as it progressed.

This was the first night and, after a start which owed rather more to musical comedy than to classical opera, the company really got into its stride in what was a most enjoyable production.

All the cast sang with great feeling and enthusiasm, but special mention must be made of Carol Rowlands' Despina, the (in this case) Anglo-Indian maid who plays such a vital part in the proceedings. Her voice is particularly lovely and she is an excellent actress too.

With the LFO season now over, it only remains to look forward to next year's programme.