“The rules of 18th-century opera are much stricter than those of the other operas I’ve directed,” she comments, “and to my delight I began to think it’s a bit like Shakespeare. These are big characters and they’re interesting people. The music may be beautiful, but that doesn’t mean that its world is simple. And if I’ve learned anything, it is that everyone in this opera is equal: nobody really behaves better than anyone else.”
‘The Marriage of Figaro’, London Coliseum, London WC2 (0871 911 0200) until 10 November.
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