Review of The Rape of Lucretia

I have a lot of respect for Britten's music and for The Rape of Lucretia. As far as his operas go, I do prefer Peter Grimes, Billy Budd and Albert Herring, but with Rape of Lucretia I love the intensely moving story and the sparsely effective texture of the score. This 1987 production I cannot recommend highly enough. The costume and set design is simple yet elegant, with the lighting really interestingly done like some of the characters shown in silhouette. The staging is austere(with the scrubbed boards and sliding screens) yet telling, helped by the expert video directing which always focuses on the drama unfolding above all else. The orchestra play Britten's sparse orchestration, just twelve instruments, with the intensity one would expect from watching a production of the opera and the conducting is musical and authoritative. I cannot fault the performances either, Anthony Rolfe Johnson and Kathryn Harries sing the Male and Female Choruses very affectingly, and Jean Rigby as Lucretia, Richard Van Allan as Collatinus and Russell Smythe as Tarquinius are outstanding, singing expressively and acting with great understanding of their characters. All in all, if you love Britten's music and good singing this Rape of Lucretia is a must watch. 10/10 Bethany Cox