BWW Reviews: ROYAL OPERA HOUSE - CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA and PAGLIACCI, Cineworld Wandsworth, December 10 2015

Is it possible to enjoy opera with merely ten minutes' introduction to its multiple layers of artistic endeavour and only a hint of the history behind the work? Too right it is - moreover, at least for the relative newcomer, it's more rewarding to jump into a (dare I say the word?) show than to research its history and do all that "locating a production" in a spurious hierarchy of greatest to worst interpretations. As is the case when I see Hamlet, I'm only interested in the Hamlet before me and not in lining him up with Olivier et al - so too with operas.

Consequently, The Royal Opera House Live Cinema Season (and that of the New York Met which runs a similar scheme) is perfect for a punter like me. The format is always the same - an introduction from the bar by a slightly goggle-eyed familiar media face exclaiming that the opera will be seen in 800+ cinemas worldwide and wrestling with the demands of live broadcasting sans autocue; followed by taped interviews with the cast, director and maestro telling us just enough about the opera and its history to allow us to hit the ground running when the screen fills with the house, all expectant in the stalls, the circles and the boxes. The cameras then take us into the pit itself for the overture and stay up close for the action - we may not be there, but what a thrill it is to feel that close, to see the very whites of the eyes, as world class singers give everything. It's obviously not the same as being right there right now, but, as second bests go, it's pretty damn good.

Especially when the productions are as spectacularly successful as Damiano Michieletto's double header, Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci. These two slices of life in Southern Italy are examples of verismo operas, productions that eschew royal courts, fairytale princes and European mythology in favour of showing real people grappling with real problems. Often performed together, Michieletto takes that approach one step further by setting both operas on the same long day, as passions spill over not once but twice. Such a conceit could be forced or tricksy, but it works so well, creating a unified look and feel to the shows and allowing a couple of lovely, understated intermezzos that in turn sets up Pagliacci in Cavalleria rusticana and wraps up Cavalleria rusticana in Pagliacci - neat.

And what a look and feel we get from set designer Paolo Fantin and lighting designer Alessandro Carletti. The revolve is lazily on the move in the early summer heat, creating the interior and exterior of a bakery and the interior and exterior of the village hall - mundane surroundings, but beautifully rendered to be as "verismo" as the people of the village. It's enough to make a man long again for the unique sense of Catholicism edging out paganism that one gets once beyond Naples, far from the sophisticates of Milan and Turin.

These men and women are brought to life by a multinational cast who inhabit their characters, as well as (of course) singing with precision and - that word again - passion. Aleksandrs Antonenko doubles as the doomed Turiddu and the inflamed Canio, his physically imposing presence at odds with his vulnerability to Martina Belli's doxy in Dolce, Lola and Dimitri Platanias's cruel Tonio. Eva-Maria Westbroek's rejected Santuzza is at her best in an electrifying scene when the Easter Parade's Madonna literally points out her sin and she realises that she is compelled to betray Turiddu. There's fine work too from Carmen Giannattasio as sexpot Nedda and a showstealing turn from Elena Zilio as Mamma Lucia, Turiddu's mother and Santuzza's salvation.

Seats cost more than they do for Spectre, but the experience is as immersive as one can get in a cinema - we really do feel like we're there with the villagers as Pagliacci's fantasy comedy transmogrifies into real-life tragedy. If you've not seen opera, here is your gateway drug to the harder stuff - or maybe just to the rest of this ROH Live season, a spectacular way to bring an art form with a reputation for being difficult and inaccessible to a screen near you. And if you get half the entertainment provided by this double bill, it'll be money well spent.

I saw this presentation at Cineworld Wandsworth as part of its Event Cinema schedule.

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