Referring to Longborough as ‘country house opera’ risks damning it with faint praise. Its current production of Puccini’s La bohème is badged as an "emerging artists production", but, make no mistake, this is a production of the highest quality.
Sarah Beaton’s design is spare but highly effective. The initial impression of the stage set is that the action is set in an atelier rather than an artist’s garret. However, this is misleading, because the atelier is part of a novel prelude which sketches out Mimi’s background and which promptly transforms into a garret as the first notes of the overture are heard. Every scenery change is effective, and special mention should be made of lighting designer Colin Grenfell who skilfully creates powerful indoors ‘shadow action’ to supplement the main drama.
Director Sarah Fahie does an exceptional job in bringing together all the elements into a coherent whole. Various subtle motifs run through the production and, while directorial innovation can jar and annoy, Sarah makes no such missteps; for example, the finale runs the risk of being mawkish, and yet it proves to be highly effective, both dramatically and emotionally.
The strength of the production is clearly rooted in the central performances of Rodolfo (Yung Soo Yun), Marcello (Darwin Prakash) and Mimi (Elin Pritchard), who deliver in a powerful and convincing way. They are ably supported by a battery of emerging artists, most notably Musetta (Sofia Kirwan-Baez), Schaunard (Edward Jowle) and Colline (Duncan Stenhouse). In truth, there are no weak links in this ensemble.
The Chorus and Youth Chorus provide very strong support, and everything is led by a note-perfect Longborough Festival Orchestra under Alice Farnham’s confident baton. I was impressed by Zeffirelli’s production at the New York Met, but Longborough’s production I loved. It exemplifies both powerful storytelling and dynamic music-making.
Longborough's reputation is rooted in its productions of Wagner, but it is clearly well-suited to producing opera of a much more intimate character, and the size and scale of the theatre is clearly suited to La bohème.
At the time of this review, there were still a small number of tickets for the remaining performances—snap them up, if you can.