Review: SUOR ANGELICA, London Coliseum

While less frequently performed than Puccini’s iconic compositions, Suor Angelica contains a magnificent score. Director Annilese Miskimmon reimagines the tragic tale against the backdrop of a convent in 1960s Ireland in an unsettling production with some outstanding performers.

The plot is typically operatic: Sister Angelica (Sinéad Campbell-Wallace) is confined to live as a nun at a convent for conceiving a child out of wedlock; now, seven years later, her aunt, the Baroness (Chrstine Rice), arrives to chide her and deliver news of the family. It’s a story that rings uncannily true for many of the thousands of women in Ireland who had their children taken away by force.

The opera is short at just under 60 minutes of runtime, but that doesn’t prevent Puccini from including some lush, lyrical music with a stunning emotional climax in Angelica’s aria, although the brevity prevents the inclusion of exciting duets or grand arias that characterise his larger works; the inevitably strict adherence to religiosity in the lyrics may also not speak to all listeners. Still: it’s powerful with some chilling moments, notably when the choir sings off-stage to accompany Angelica’s laments. All of the music is masterfully performed under conductor Corinna Niemeyer and the Orchestra of the ENO.

The bare austerity of the set by designer Yannis Thavoris takes its inspiration from an Irish Magdalene Laundry, dominated by a statue of the Virgin Mary and a desk in the foreground; the period costumes conjure the atmosphere of the social conditions of such institutions. It’s not unconventional, and the contextual significance won’t be lost on people familiar with the history of these place.

The casting choices are excellent, with Campbell-Wallace’s Angelica being a particularly impressive performance full of dramatic resonance. She’s paired well with Rice’s Baroness, whose rich register portrays perfectly the contempt she feels for her niece.

By setting Suor Angelica in a deeply troubling chapter of Ireland’s past, Miskimmon’s vision heightens the stakes of the opera, but it doesn’t necessarily add much to the emotional finesse of the work, partly due to the brief runtime limiting the exploration of the opera’s themes and potential for deeper character development. Nevertheless, the strong performances and Puccini’s haunting score combine in a production that is a compelling, if occasionally uneven, rendition of this often overlooked work.

Suor Angelica ran at the London Coliseum 

Photo Credits: Genevieve Girling