Visual gags feature largely in all three mini-operas at Wexford this year. They abound in Michal Znaniecki's and Debora Virello's production of Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera. The work is played in an anonymous English translation that sports more than its share of four and five-letter expletives, all of them delivered with aplomb by the energetic cast. Creditably, the vocal line is sung in full voice throughout without any loss of clarity in articulation. All 11 performers work hard, but the lion's share of the action falls to tenor Kevin Ferguson, a cool-as-cucumber Mack-the-Knife, and soprano Niamh O'Brien, a virago of a Polly Peachum. Stewart Kempster is impressive as her father and Clare McCaldin deserves a medal for her handling of the explicit lyrics and risible cardboard costume in Mrs Peachum's big solo. John Shea's piano playing is so good one hardly misses Weill's outre orchestrations.
The farcical happenings in Rossini's La scala di seta (The Silken Ladder) are gentler, but no less funny. Director/musical director Rosetta Cucchi sets the action in a modern office and the piece is sung bi-lingually, with recitatives in English and everything else in Italian. The comic timing is excellent, but Rossini's operas call for a vocal agility that is beyond most of these singers. The exceptions are Darren Abrahams, a true Rossianian tenor, and baritone Carl Gombrich. In the central role of Germano, Dubliner Roland Davitt pushes his bass voice too strongly.
Although hardly appropriate, Francesco Calcagnini's production of Gounod's Faust also has a plethora of gags. The staging is further compromised by setting it in a sort of furniture repository, where the frequent shifting of chairs breaks the dramatic flow, time and time again. Happily, there is splendid singing. The main principals icek as an incisive Mephistophe les; Vladimir as a strongly-projected Valentin; and Chloe Wright as a lyrically tender Marguerite - all contribute well-sung performances, albeit in odd-sounding French. And if their sheer volume in ensemble sometimes drowns Ljuba Orfenova's piano accompaniment, it is a small price to pay for such vocal splendours.
The Opera Scenes continue in the Barn, White's Hotel, every day until 28 October. Booking: 053-22144
