Manchester Theatre Awards and MEN review of Opera North's The Barber of Seville, The Lowry

It’s a 29-year-old production but it hardly shows. Giles Havergal’s staging of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville is still one of the best in Opera North’s cupboard, and it was good to see it dusted off again at The Lowry.

Imagining it as a performance by a travelling troupe in 19^th century Italy (with ‘audience’ on stage to lead the applause at the right times, and become the chorus where necessary) was always a clever idea, and it means we observers can laugh both with, and occasionally at, the cavortings on stage.

Those are good value, too. The cast is a mixture of experience and youth, with the comedy led by Eric Roberts as Dr Bartolo (I can hardly imagine anyone else doing it) and Alastair Miles as Don Basilio, both masters of their craft. The English translation (Robert David MacDonald) gives Roberts funny lines which he exploits to the full (‘I love it when she’s angry’ … ‘I just cannot believe it’) and he presents his musical highspots to great effect (despite seeming momentarily to hesitate in Can You Offer Such Excuses).

The richly coloured voice of Katie Bray, as Rosina, shows that the young-and-up-and-coming members of the cast are of exceptional quality this time around. She sings Both The Singer And The Song (Una voce poco fa) wonderfully, and likewise in the lesson scene – and she can get a laugh with just a facial expression, as she does when her true love turns out to be the very eligible young Count Almaviva.

Nicholas Watts, in that role, took a few minutes to get into his stride but was singing brilliantly in the second act, and acting effectively.

But the discovery of the night is surely Gavan Ring as Figaro, a young Irish baritone who seems made for the role. He sings with assurance and catches the comedy opportunities without exaggeration.

Victoria Sharp’s Berta may not have more than one chance to shine as soloist, but she really proved her worth in topping the ensemble numbers with ringing tone.

Credit, too, of course, to Russell Craig’s set and costume design, which is one of the delights of this show.

Under Stuart Stratford’s direction, the performance got off to a slightly sticky start, with a little rhythmic unease in the overture and a touch of the perennial Lyric Theatre problem of keeping stage and pit together, but this was very soon overcome. The final act one sextet (Spellbound And Thunderstruck) was particularly well paced and articulated, and in the second part everything gelled to make a very fine evening.