Nineteenth-century opera loved exotic locations that allowed tempestuous emotions to run free. So it is with Donizetti’s Il furioso all’isola di San Domingo, premiered in Rome in 1833, un-staged in this country for more than a century and now revived by English Touring Opera as The Wild Man of the West Indies. He is Cardenio; distraught at his wife’s infidelity, he flees Europe and lands in San Domingo. There he terrorises local slaves, who nevertheless feel sorry for him. As if by magic, a shipwreck brings his wife and brother to the island; all ends happily.
The opera is sung in Italian. Surtitles keep us abreast of developments, although such jocularities as “scarpered” and “another nutter” don’t really catch the tone.
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Iqbal Khan’s production wants to make Donizetti an abolitionist: far-fetched, but his cast supports him well. As slave Kaidamà, Peter Brathwaite shows comic flair, while Njabulo Madlala’s plantation boss has a sinister authority that Craig Smith’s Wild Man lacks. The vocal star is Sally Silver: as the repentant wife, she shows real bel canto style. It may be another century before The Wild Man returns; this is a welcome sighting.
Touring until May 27 (englishtouringopera.org.uk)