Don Giovanni/The English Touring Opera, review

English Touring Opera is not the richest opera company but who else would open three new productions in a week, as ETO has just done, and then take them on a two-month tour, criss-crossing the country from Truro to Perth? Two of those productions are rarities, by Gluck and Donizetti. Mozart’s Don Giovanni isn’t rare, but it’s decently served by Lloyd Wood’s straightforward staging.

Singing it in Jeremy Sams’ ingenious English translation allows the action to unfold with maximum clarity. Elements of Anna Fleischle’s designs refer back to Vienna at the beginning of the 20th century, which adds little, but the multi-level set and Guy Hoare’s lighting create a believably murky demi-monde.

The demanding tour schedule requires double-casting for most of the roles. In Hackney, George von Bergen’s Giovanni, swaggered rather stiffly and was sometimes upstaged by Matthew Stiff’s Leporello, a simmering cauldron of servile rage.

The best singing came from the women who suffered Giovanni’s wandering hands: Ania Jeruc a febrile Elvira, Susanna Fairbairn suitably haughty as Anna.

The orchestra, conducted by Michael Rosewell, was on robust form, and if the production still needs to settle, there is ample time for it to gain depth as it makes its way round the country.