Benvenuto Cellini...

Last Friday night Stuart and I went to see Terry Gilliam's production of Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini at the London Coliseum.

The English National Opera had invited Gilliam back (after the success of The Damnation of Faust) to their stage bring his unique bonkers style of production.  And he did. It was bonkers. And brilliant.

All the classic touches were there. Surreal, funny and dazzling.

The Damnation of Faust...

On Saturday night Paul and I went to the English National Opera to see Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust. The London Coliseum had given itself up to the wonderful Terry Gilliam for the night.

We were in for a treat: the music was great, the acting lovely, but it was Gilliam's production that wowed.

For two and half hours we languished in a visually stunning production flowing through 100 years of German history from the mid-1800s to the Third Reich.

It was a breathtakingly show - ranging from the artistic and subtle design of Bauhaus to looking like The Producers' Springtime for Hitler. The sets were simply amazing and use of video projection perfectly judged.

Gilliam's little Monty Python tricks and seductions seeped through too such as the oversized box on Faust's back at the beginning and the fight over the Cake of Europe.

We loved it. I hope the show gets a tour and indeed returns to London. It'll be well worth seeing it again.

Don Giovanni @ London Colesium...

Last night Stu and I went to see Don Giovanni as performed by the English National Opera at the London Coliseum.
It was a new production of Mozart's work directed by Rufus Norris (Afore Night Came, Cabaret, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Festen) with the set designed by Ian MacNeil (Festen, Ariodante, Billy Elliot: The Musical).
Don Giovanni (part Don Juan, part Casanova), a young, arrogant, sexually prolific nobleman, abuses and outrages everyone else in the cast, until he finally encounters something he cannot kill, beat up, dodge, or outwit - a guest who he has greatly wronged. This new interpretation of a classic tale takes our anti-hero from some nasty sexual violence through three hours of thoroughly rotten bad behaviour to a very sticky end. The cast were good. The music good too. The set was something else though. The elements raced and twirled and span like dodgem cars - the cast seemed to have to leap out of it's way. Still, we both enjoyed it and it never flagged. The English translation was a hoot too - very contemporary. Recommended.

Related articles

• Rufus Norris makes opera debut (bbc.co.uk)
• Don Giovanni - review (guardian.co.uk)
• Don Giovanni, ENO, Coliseum, review (telegraph.co.uk)