You see, a trip to London wouldn’t be complete without a wander through the Apple Market, Neal’s Yard and tasty cocktail spots to wet your whistle. Honestly, if it’s your first time in London and you’re looking to explore some of the most famous neighbourhoods of the city, then Covent Garden is easily up there as one of the best. Countervailing white motifs (in costumes and props) represent purity, integrity and (in a statue of the winged lion of Venice, subsequently demolished) spiritual strength.Covent Garden is one of the best areas in London that seems to attract lots of visitors and Londoners alike! That being said, it’s easy to see why… especially with all the yummy restaurants, alleys to explore and the best things to do in Covent Garden. Boris Kudlicka’s stunning lamp-black sets, evocatively lit by Bruno Poet, symbolise the darkness of which the human spirit is capable, or perhaps the depths of despair to which it can sink.
Keith Warner’s penetrating production was first seen with Jonas Kaufmann in 2017. A less-than-heavyweight Otello, however, needs sensitive support, and Daniele Rustioni, for all his otherwise exemplary handling of the score, gave him little quarter in the big scenes, unleashing Verdi’s thunderous, lightning-flecked sonorities in all their thrilling potency. But those expecting the sovereign ringing timbre of a Vickers or a Domingo will be disappointed, though Thomas, who specialised in Mozart and lyric roles earlier in his career, observes that the part is rooted in the bel canto tradition. It’s a resonant voice, with a distinctive edge that enables him to register anguish as well as anger. Whether he has all the requisite vocal qualities for this most demanding of tenor roles is a moot point. Russell Thomas has a striking stage presence and charts the character’s trajectory from straight-backed Venetian general to hunched victim of Iago’s plotting, eaten by jealousy. T’s a sad indictment of our cultural history that Covent Garden has not before now been able to field a black singer in the role of Verdi’s Moor, Otello.
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