The Butterfly House, Clonter Opera review - Puccini in biographical briefs

For 50 years Clonter Opera, the song-on-the-farm project in rural Cheshire, has been encouraging would-be opera stars by giving them a chance to perform in undemanding conditions under the guidance of experienced professional.

It all began with audiences sitting on straw bales in a barn, and only after a purpose-built theatre came into being was there a small pit enabling something more than piano accompaniment for major productions.

To celebrate the anniversary, they’ve done something very different from the more-or-less complete opera productions that were often a highlight of high summer in the leafy lanes not far from Jodrell Bank. It’s a complete new piece of theatre with music, commissioned and created in-house, telling the life of Puccini and adorned with excerpts from his scores.

For the Clonter audience it’s a chance to hear young aspirants having a go at some of the most well-known arias and duets from the Puccini playlist, which they do with vigour and skill, demonstrating the results of the vocal training available in some of our (and other countries’) top conservatoires.

For the performers the format offers not only that but also a rare opportunity to become straight actors – a skill they may well need in future as their real singing qualities are increasingly sought for in musical theatre to recreate the 20^th century classics, as well as in the opera house.

So the mission to give a boost to people on the verge of their careers is as much in evidence as ever. The scenario and script, created by Geoffrey Dolton (who’s also seen on film and heard on stage as Puccini reminiscing towards the end of his life) and others, tell us in quite some detail – possibly too much – about his wayward and philandering personal life, and attempt to match incidents in it with the music he was writing contemporaneously. It works some of the time, though mainly towards the end of his career: so there’s “O mio babbino caro” to illustrate his grown-up daughter’s success in getting her own way, and “Un bel di” to mirror his long-suffering wife’s impatience when he spends too much time far away from home.

But mainly the excerpts are done as little “opera scenes” of the kind that colleges provide for their students, with an adaptable set by Jessica Staton and background projections by Steve Brookfield. In fact the filmic aspect of the show – the 1920s-style flickery black-and-white “film” of the ageing Puccini, and the atmospheric snow and flower effects – are among the most accomplished aspects of the entertainment.

The accompaniments have been reduced to piano and a battery of both tuned and untuned percussion (all under the control of Andrea Vogler) by Philip Sunderland, who plays piano and is music director. The singing performers are sopranos Olivia Carrell and Emilie Cavallo, Constantine Akritides (a fine developing tenor) and John Ieuan Jones, baritone. 

• Further performances on 25 and 27 July 
• More opera reviews on theartsdesk