Review of the June 2011 Stroud Arts Festival

The Stroud Arts Festival collaborated with the SVA 2011 Site Festival this June particularly in the area of the Spoken Word which had not featured in previous festivals. The collaboration worked well and we would like to thank all those who attended the various exhibitions, readings, concerts and happenings.

A shop at the top of the High Street became The Spoken Word Assembly Rooms where there was an exhibition of visual art incorporating the written word and a video installation. It was also the site for Creative Writing group meetings and the Ted Milton installation. We hope to continue The Spoken Word theme next year.

The highlight of the month for The Stroud Arts Festival was the Opera Up Close production of La Boheme which was seen by an enthusiastic sold out audience at The Cotswold Payhouse. For those who may not have seen the review in the Stroud News and Journal, here it is.

OPERA UpClose has fast become one of the most critically acclaimed opera companies in the country and Stroud was privileged to see this fabulous young troupe in action, thanks to Stroud Arts Festival.

In this production, sung in English, the updated libretto turns 19th Century Paris into 21st Century Kilburn. Rodolfo - a struggling writer - shares a flat with three male friends. When their neighbour Mimi comes to borrow some change for the meter on Christmas Eve, Rodolfo falls instantly in love, and sings the celebrated aria Your tiny hand is frozen - here brilliantly updated to ‘Your fingers are half frozen.’

The love scene that followed was immensely affecting, with great chemistry between the two singers.

At the end of Act 1 the audience was asked to adjourn to the bar whilst Act II was set up.

The Playhouse was sold out, and the bar was as loud as you would expect. Imagine our surprise when, to the sound of the piano, the singers entered the bar, their voices easily cutting in above the noise. In this production Act II is set in a crowded bar, so what better place to perform it than right there? The brilliance of the performances, as Musetta charmed her way around us, drew smiles of delight from the astonished audience, building to rapturous applause as she effortlessly reeled- in Marcello with a final, passionate kiss.

In Act III - back on stage but no less affecting - Rodolfo¹s self-sacrificing care for the very sick Mimi was touching, and their inability to say goodbye to each other was heart-rending.

The final act saw Rodolfo finding solace in the jovial company of his flatmates. Suddenly the mood became sombre when Musetta arrived with the dying Mimi.

The scene where she and Rodolfo re-pledge their love for one another, with Mimi singing the heartbreaking line: "My heart was here, and I have always loved you" was one of the most poignant I have ever seen on stage. Right at the end, as the others gradually realised that Mimi had died, Rodolfo spoke his penultimate line: "Why are you all looking at me like that?" beginning to sing as he cried out Mimi¹s name over and over. I am not exaggerating when I say that there was not a dry eye in the house. Accomplished actors as well as singers, the small cast all sang with great emotion and perfect diction.

Special mention must go to the company¹s pianist, Elspeth Wilkes. She was a one-woman orchestra and performed the whole score with feeling and aplomb, providing the perfect background for this extraordinary performance.

Bravo Opera UpClose.

Liz Terry (Stroud News and Journal)

Click on the link to view the 2011 Festival Programme or return to the 2012 Festival Programme