Cosi Fan Tutte
Wales Millennium Centre

A NEW production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutti should be a cause for celebration, but Welsh National Opera’s latest adaptation creates even more problems from troublesome subject matter. Of course the music and singing is sublime, but this is opera and we expect the acting and staging to enhance and engage us.

The trouble is that the 18th-century storyline is a glaring example of misogyny writ large for today’s audience. That problem has been compounded by a staging which sets the action in a school, with the two couples played as schoolchildren in shorts and gymslips. 

That jars even more with the opera’s premise that women are inherently unfaithful, and the male schoolteacher Don Alfonso (Jose Fardilha) in mortarboard and gown bets the two boys that their fiancees will betray them if the opportunity arises.

The only real comedic moments are provided by the redoubtable Rebecca Evans as Despina, the dinner lady/school cleaner, who hams up her role superbly. Despina tells Sophie Bevan’s Fiordiligie and Kayleigh Decker’s Dorabella that life is unfair as their two fiances will undoubtedly be having fun while they are away in the navy and exhorts them to have sexual fun while they can.

This is probably as close as this production gets to exploring and challenging gender stereotypes. But the moment passes as James Atkinson as Guglielmo and Egor Zhuravskii’s Ferrando pretend to go off to sea, and don disguises as hippies to fool their fiancees.

Of course, there is a happy ending of sorts but I have seen other productions of this opera that work despite the ridiculous premise of disguise and betrayal.

The programme notes exhort us to rise above the misogyny and just enjoy a wonderful opera and the compelling musical genius of Mozart. That might be possible if the repellent storyline was handled in a more sensitive and comic way.

The singing and music reflect the genius of Mozart to make something profound and beautiful from the most unpromising of subject matters, but the WNO should reflect on the superficial misogyny inherent in this adaptation.

On tour until May 10. For more information see: www.wno.org.uk