By Charlie C , Music Rep

Considering that The Magic Flute dates from 1791, this production was surprisingly modern, reminiscent of Bertolt Brecht’s dramatic style.Two stalls were placed on either side of the stage, one containing the equipment used by a live foley artist, and the other with apparatus for live visual effects. Throughout the performance, chalk drawn on a blackboard was projected onto the back wall of the stage, introducing characters, timescales, and settings. The actors wore modern dress, and parts of the minimalistic staging even rose up and down, sometimes at angles, to further illustrate the setting of the play.

The Magic Flute is an ever-popular opera, drawing large crowds to its initial performances. This is helped due to the fact that the production was viewed as entertainment for the middle classes with its story of magic and comedy. As well as this, the opera is a Singspiel, a blend of spoken dialogue and song that is a predecessor of the modern musical. Being one of the first operas to be written in the vernacular (language) of its audience, which was German, The Magic Flute was a departure from the convention of writing operas in Italian. This ENO has preserved this intention by translating the entire production into English, making it a lot easier to understand what is happening onstage! 

A stand-out highlight of the show was certainly the character of Papageno, a bird-catcher who is unwillingly brought along on the hero Tamino’s quest for true love. The opera follows Tamino  as he undergoes a series of trials in order to marry his true love Pamina, interspersed with the perspectives of the villainous Queen of the Night (who was interestingly portrayed sympathetically in the production) and her associates, Pamina being her daughter. The self-titled Queen of the Night aria is perhaps the most well-known aspect of the opera, and it was performed fantastically in this production.

Tamino must undertake several trials to be made worthy of Pamina’s affection, and it is a magic flute he is given which enables him to survive these. In the midst of one of these trials, lovelorn Papageno sings an aria in which wonders if he will ever find a lover, even in the production we watched attempting to woo several women in the audience.

Apart from this, my favourite part of the production was being able to watch the orchestra and conductor perform. Our seats allowed us to look directly into the pit, without blocking the view onstage, and it was a joy to actually see the people behind the music, who are so often hidden in many shows.

Essentially, the performance was fantastic – and the English National Opera holds many more productions per year.