The Marriage of Figaro, Theatre Royal, Newcastle

THIS was Opera North’s first new production of Mozart’s wonderful comedy for nearly a decade and under Jo Davies’s direction it had just about everything needed to make it a complete success.

Singing and acting was excellent throughout, orchestra and chorus in fine form, the moveable stage sets nicely echoed the original 1785 engraving and the English translation by Jeremy Sams was both funny and illuminating.

All this helped to make a complicated plot more coherent with the characters’ conflicting aspects convincingly portrayed and if a stage set sometimes wobbled or a door refused to close, it hardly mattered in the scheme of things.

What was particularly notable was the way the action would switch from comedy to the most beautiful music and if occasionally a singer was set too far back or obscured by the set that was more than offset by the many wonderful arias, duets and ensemble pieces with Mozart’s sublime mix of pathos and humour.

The principal singers, Richard Burkhart as Figaro, Silvia Moi (Susanna), Quirijn de Lang (the Count), Ana Maria Labin (the Countess) and Helen Sherman (Cherubino) sang beautifully and in character throughout, conveying all the varied emotions, with conductor Alexander Shelley pacing things just right.

Peter Bevan