English Touring Opera (ETO) has brought Pagliacci to Sheffield's Lyceum theatre, marking the company's first premiere in its new home city. Director Eleanor Burke attempts to transform Leoncavallo's 19th-century verismo into a 21st-century psychodrama, with mixed results.
Burke's production highlights Nedda's enduring love for Canio even as she plans to elope with Silvio, heightening the tragedy. The ETO ensemble portrays the demons inside Canio's head, urging him to kill Nedda by strangling her with a telephone cord. Zeynep Kepekli's lighting design ensures these figures are a watchful presence while emphasising the voyeurism of the audience.
However, the production lacks celebrity glamour, despite programme notes referencing Byron or Burton and Taylor. Michael Pavelka's utilitarian set and Laura Jane Stanfield's everyday costumes ground the tale in mundanity. The opening press conference, with no journalists present, hampers the show from the start. Nedda's aria, sung while marking a play script, downplays her longing for freedom. Robin Norton-Hale's English translation is low on poetry, with awkward emphases such as 'Dress in your costume' for 'Vesti la giubba.'
The cast is committed: Ronald Samm portrays a tortured Canio, though his voice lacks Italianate warmth. Paula Sides is a persuasive Nedda, Danny Shelvey a smooth-talking Silvio, Harry Grigg sweet-toned as Beppe, and Matthew Siveter delivers heroic top notes as Tonio. Gerry Cornelius's interpretation of the score is solid, though the string sound thins at times. An unnecessary interval drains the tension built in the first half.
