Review: GIANNI SCHICCHI / PAGLIACCI, Arcola Theatre, 31 August 2016

A man lies dying, his family distressed; but only at the prospect of his wealth going to the local friars. Suddenly a solution presents itself: could the clever Schicchi - a peasant, but blessed with a "wide boy's" cunning - find a way to have the inconvenient will revoked?

The family hold their noses, invite him in and are amazed at his deviousness once he grasps their plight. Perhaps not amazed enough though, as Schicchi has a plan of his own that might secure his daughter the husband she wants and exact a fitting revenge on those who would not let him enter the manor house until they needed a favour.

Sung in English, Puccini's short 1918 opera, Gianni Schicchi, is the one Gilbert and Sullivan may have written had they read Dante's Inferno instead of watching the British Empire parade up and down Whitehall in uniform. The baddies get skewered and the goodies come out on top, but there's a harder edge than G&S provide, Italian passion inevitably coming through in the music and the plot twists.

With just a piano to provide the music, what's lost in melodic power is gained in the clarity of the voices, with Ana Bratanic on top form with the opera's showstopper "O mio babbino caro" delivered beautifully (if you don't recognise the title, you will recognise the tune). Ian Henderson is devilishly charming as Schicchi and, come the end, barely needs to ask the audience's forgiveness for his duplicity (a remnant of the opera's roots in Dante) as we've been on his side from the start.

The second opera in Irrational Theatre's double bill is the love triangle (plus one) of Pagliacci, the tale of the clown whose sexpot wife, Nedda, has turned too many heads in the travelling troupe. With echoes of Hamlet's play within a play, the evening's Commedia dell'arte show veers so close to real life, that Pagliaccio/Canio takes off his mask, takes matters into his own hands and tragedy on stage becomes tragedy in real life.

Again, there's just David Podd on piano for the music, but he has a chorus to work with this time and singers who appear more relaxed in letting their voices dip and soar, filling the air, thrilling us in a way unique to boutique operas, so close are we to the performers. I've seen upwards of 25 such productions now and the impact of classically trained singers working (at times) within touching distance remains undiminished.

Samantha Green's Nedda appears oblivious to her fate, transfixed by her lover, Silvio (a dashing Herbie Hill-Reid), and blind to the scheming of Tonia (Katy Bingham-Best in a gender flipped role), whose infatuation is met with a fatal disdain. A menacing, muscular Randy Nichol delivers his setpiece "Vesti la giubba", as he prepares to play his part in events anchored in both fiction and reality, with some skill, but I missed the strings and this most powerful of arias felt a little undercooked as a result.

With the first half of the double bill sung in English and the second in Italian (supported by very clear surtitles) this is about as accessible as the art form gets and, it has to be said, only opera's reputation for being difficult, demanding or posh stands in the way of anyone wishing to dip a toe in and try the temperature. At £20, it's fantastic value and an introduction to a world that can give anyone who enjoys theatre many years of entertainment. Pop along and see if you don't agree.

Gianni Schicchi / Pagliacci continues at the Arcola Theatre until 3 September.

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