Opera novice? Go to the Savoy

3:20pm Thursday 22nd April 2004

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Opera is an acquired taste, right? Isn't it a bizarre cocktail of inflated prices, overweight singers in outrageous costumes and a snooty, superior audience?

Well no, not necessarily. At least, this is the presumption the Savoy Opera sets out to overturn.

The first new opera company for 100 years opened in London this week, aiming to bring popular opera to the capital at a price more people could afford - the sort of prices you would pay to see, for example, Mamma Mia, or Bombay Dreams.

This begs the question, however, of whether opera - so long considered the preserve of those perceived as culture snobs - can attract these audiences, usually more appreciative of the strains of Abba than Mozart.

As ever, Local London came up with a way of testing the knottiest of problems: they sent me, an operatic novice and Abba lover, to watch the Savoy's first offerings, The Marriage of Figaro and The Barber of Seville.

Let's not hold back: the Savoy Opera is impressive.

Though on first inspection not quite what you expect from an opera house - particularly after such tales of the grandness of the Royal Opera House following reconstruction - it rises to the dual challenge it sets itself: to make good, accesible opera, and perform it in a space previously reserved only for non-musical theatre.

The two productions running through the opening season both offer strong performances, genuine comedy - I laughed out loud and quite often - and definite hope for Raymond Gubbay, the man behind the venture, that his populist opera may take off.

The stronger of the two productions is The Barber of Seville and comes wholeheartedly recommended.

Though cast is mostly young (the Savoy Opera, with tickets costing a maximum of £50 - will never boast Opera's international superstars), they carry their roles off with wit and confidence.

In a theatre with acoustics not designed for either an opera orchestra or singers, the words (always sung in English) are clear and comprehensible - and often actually very funny. (This comes as a surprise to someone who thought the description of opera as "comic" meant the same as that of Laurel and Hardy films - they were funny once, but...)

Particularly memorable was Geoffrey Dolton as Doctor Bartolo - a study in the release of long-surpressed anger, which drew roars of laughter from the auditorium, and the loudest applause at the close.

By comparison The Marriage of Figaro is less uproarious - though in no way lower in quality.

The voices are again strong and the words clear. It is only the plot which is slightly more obscure - though the programme can clear up any lack of knowledge you may have about the ancestral rights of Italian aristocracy in the eighteenth century.

Both the count and Susanna - the object of his desire - gave accomplished performances, carrying the production through a second half which did drag slightly.

If you have not been to the opera before, thought it was too expensive, or considered it aloof, the Savoy Opera provides a long-needed opportunity to forget the reasons why you wouldn't go to the opera, and discover something new.