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The Emperor's Opera. - Tour & World Premiere.

Playwright - Michael Duke.
Director - Peter Clerke.
Set & Costume Designer - Iain Halket.
Lighting Designer - Stuart Nairn.
Composer - Pete Livingstone.
Company - Benchtours (Scottish).
Cast - here .
2005 Tour Dates and Times - here .
Seen to review at Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh on 30 April 2005.
Run Time - 2 hours including one Interval.
Reviewer - Thelma Good.

Accents muffle humour.

Milinka sits on the lap of Kuligin on the sofa whilst Goryanshikov loks at them as he kneels behind the sofa with only his head visible.
The Emperor's opera - Benchtours Production.
Milinka Dmitrievna Yeletsky - Catherine Gillard, Grigory Kuligin -Sean Hay and Ratmir Goryanshikov - Stewart Ennis.
© Marc Marnie 2005.
In The Emperor's Opera directed by Pete Clerke, comic timing and routines are slickly executed but complicated names and the female East European accents muffle the farce's humour. Gathered in an expensive hotel, suggested by Iain Halket's set there are four exits, a large plant, a sofa and a reception desk to dive behind. There is also a wordless, morose looking cellist, Alexei, Robin Mason who plays phrases of a once performed opera which he is the sole survivor of - not audience revenge but a plane crash after opening night in the country's east. Outside in the unnamed state the people are demonstrating and the snow is blowing up a storm.

Pete Livingstone's music gets us in a humorous mood as inside the hotel Grigory Kuligin, the Secretary of Cultural Identity, Sean Hay plans to recover the opera and have it performed in the country's west. He wants to be aided by Stewart Ennis's Ratmir Goryanshikov, a national playwright who is amazed there is an opera written by a countryman - the unnamed country doesn't do its own operas due to a lack of them.

Is writer Michael Duke trying to make a parallel with Scotland? We have native opera composers but whose opera company rarely performs any, we are searching for a cultural identity failing to realise the wealth and variety occurring in halls and self organised gatherings at the grass roots. If the parallel is intended the hard to understand accents and unmemorable character names have us struggling to follow the story, never mind make connections.

The female characters a rich widow opera sponsor, the Secretary's wife who is also a journalist always short of a pen, and the hotel receptionist all are attractive to one or other Hay's or Ennis's characters. They do get laughs as a result. But they all sound remarkably similar when excited in their rhythms and their tone and sadly their accents become extremely hard to understand.

These are not failings the men develop. Hay's Secretary and particularly Ennis's two roles as the playwright and his brother the official Opera Critic along with the enigmatic Mason and Livingstone's music are by far the best of The Emperor's Opera.
© Thelma Good 30 April 2005 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
Cast - Stewart Ennis - Ratmir Goryanshikov/ Goryanshikov's brother , Rocio Galan - Askinya Stosslova, Catherine Gillard Milinka Dmitrievna Yeletsky, Sean Hay - Grigory Kuligin, Robin Mason - Alexei and Maria Oller - Ludmila Kutuzovna.

2005 Tour Details of Benchtours' production of The Emperor's Opera.
Tour begins
29 & 30 April at Brunton theatre 0131 665 2240.
3 & 4 May atDundee Rep 01382 223 530.
5 May at Fortrose Community Arts Venue.
6 May at Skerray Village Hall.
7 May at Lyth Arts Centre.
11 May at MacRobert Arts Centre, Stirling 01786 466 666.
12 May at Birnam Arts Institute, Dunkeld 01350 727 674.
13 May at Tron theatre 0141 552 4267.
14 May at Tron theatre 0141 552 4267.
16 May at Elgin Town Hall 01343 562 600.
17 May at Macduff Arts Centre 01261 833 819.
18 May at New Deer Public Hall 01771 644 698.
19 May at Deeside Theatre Aboyne 01339 886 222.
20 May at Tullynessle Village Hall 01975 562 963.
21 May at Lemon Tree, Aberdeen 01224 642 230.
25 May at The Maltings, Berwick-upon-Tweed 01289 330 999.
26 May at Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline BOOK ONLINE / 01383 314 000.
27 May at The Palace, Kilmarnock 01563 554 900.
28 May at Eastgate Arts Centre, Peebles 01721 725 777.
31 May at Glenmoriston Millennium Hall, Invermoriston.
1 June National Hotel, Dingwall.
2 June Sabhal Mor Ostaig, Skye.
3 June Spectrum Centre, Inverness.
4 June Carrbridge Village Hall.
5 June Cairndow Village Hall.
8 June Byre theatre, St Andrews 01334 475 000.
9 June The Wynd theatre, Melrose 01896 823 854.
10 & 11 June Traverse theatre 0131 228 1404.
Tour ends.

Theatre Editor, Thelma Good's e-mail is thelma@edinburghguide.com

Although every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information presented in these pages, no responsibility can be accepted for any errors or omissions.

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