Dad, opera is really just Eastenders on stage

Audience Review of Don Giovanni

"Well, after sitting glued to Channel 4 and watching Don Giovanni get something of a mauling from Harvey Goldsmith, we went along to the full performance last night.

I am a nearly-middle-aged Church minister (just the sort of person who ought to get offended by this adaptation Don Giovanni). I took to the performance my 16 year old daughter, who has never been to an opera before (or even a classical concert) and who thinks "classical" means "pre-Westlife".

I thought this would be a good test for this new production.

For the record, we both loved it, and had a great evening. My daughter was a bit disappointed not to see any ball gowns and tiaras in the audience, and not to get any opera glasses, but we both sat transfixed.

The singing and staging were, frankly, astounding. An incredible assembly of talent. Some of the colloquialisms sounded strange set to Mozart (to me this startled much more than the swearing), but the libretto was, I thought, an inspired modernisation. The only minor exception was the adaptation of the aria Batti, batti o bel Masetto in act 1. The attitudes expressed in the aria just seemed out of place in an adaptation set in the 20th Century. Maybe we are too aware of violence against women in this day and age to easily accept a character singing over and over again "beat me, Mesetto".

I ought to say a word about the language, given the channel 4 coverage. The swearing was worse than is used in my house, but no worse than I hear on the bus from Abingdon to Oxford. It made sense in the context, and did not seem gratuitous. I am sure if you had put the expletives in Italian, Harvey Goldsmith would have applauded. On the bus on the way home, my daughter (who also saw the channel 4 programme) said "Harvey Goldsmith: What a wuss."

Halfway through the second half I was worried that my daughter may not be following the plot. I asked her if she was, and she whispered back: "Dad, I watch Casualty, Emmerdale, Eastenders and Corrie in one sitting. I can do this thing!"

For us this was the real beauty of Don Giovanni: it's accessibility. If Opera Anywhere is trying to bring Opera to people like my daughter and I, who are not much in to classical music, then the approach taken in this production may just be the way to do it.

After the opening five minutes, my daughter turned to me and whispered "Dad, opera is really just Eastenders on stage."

And that is why I hope this production gets a chance to go out to a wider audience. On the strength of last night, my daughter is quite keen to go to see another opera. And I never thought to hear that from her lips. It is a shame, in a way, that there is not a "PG version" that could be sent into secondary schools.

My final thought is one of amusement: that Harvey Goldsmith and those suited, hard nosed city types should have been prudishly wary of a production that a Church minister loved and enjoyed. What a strange, topsy-turvy world we live in".

Revd. David Fleming - Minister of Abingdon Baptist Church