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You can’t stop the boats: Sorry We Didn’t Die At Sea @ParkTheatre

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Sorry We Didn’t Die At Sea by Italian playwright Emanuele Aldrovandi and translated by Marco Young, has made a topical return to London at the Park Theatre after playing earlier this summer at the Seven Dials Playhouse. In a week when leaders and leaders in waiting were talking about illegal immigration, it seemed like a topical choice . It also has one hell of an evocative title. The piece opens with Adriano Celantano’s Prisencolinensinainciusol , which sets the scene for what we are about to see. After all, a song about communication barriers seems perfect for a play about people trafficking and illegal immigration. One side doesn’t understand why they happen, and the other still comes regardless of the latest government announcement / slogan .  However, the twist here is that the crossing is undertaken the other way. People are fleeing Europe instead of escaping war or poverty in Africa or the Middle East. It’s set sometime in the not-too-distant future. There is a crisis causing p

Opera: Madama Butterfly



Madama Butterfly (appropriately subtitled "Japanese tragedy in three acts") is a little too dramatically obvious, and musically unsatisfying. But the performance by Kristine Opolais as Cio-Cio-San is the sort of dramatic and powerful performance that this piece needs and she had the audience cheering for her on Saturday night. It is all high melodrama and her transformation from a meek and feeble fifteen year old girl, to a woman rejected is incredible and really fleshes out this minimalist production.


The audience around me were not so rapt with the performance of James Valenti, as he is less of a big bold cad and more of a tender thoughtless B.F. Pinkerton, who marries Cio-Cio-San and assumes she understands the nature of the relationship. I did not mind this subtle choice, and listening to him on Radio 3 relay of the performance you would be none the wiser. And being a tall, strong-looking American, he certainly looked the part (as this brief story about him shows). The finale keeps him off stage and puts the audience firmly in the shoes of butterfly.

The opera is probably one of the better outdoor operas, particularly going by the tweets from the audience that watched Monday night's performance outdoors as part of the BP Summer Screens.




It has two more performances, not counting the 3D recording that takes place on Friday. The 3D recording is an opportunity to catch the opera at a bargain price (if you don't mind the cameras).

Next up for BP Summer Screens (and for me) is Cendrillon which opens on Tuesday night with Joyce DiDonato. I can't wait. Mild social networking games can be found on twitter at @mynameiscinders

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