The Fugard Theatre What's On

THE FUGARD THEATRE BIOSCOPE CLOSES ITS CURRENT WORLD OPERA AND BALLET SEASON WITH COSI FAN TUTTE

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Opera Screening in two acts | Sung in Italian | Running time: 2 hours 55 minutes (excluding intervals)

Over the course of the next two Sunday’s, the Fugard Theatre Bioscope, in association with The Royal Opera House will screen Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte as part of their hugely successful, inaugural World Opera and Ballet Season.

Cosi Fan Tutte is Mozart and Da Ponte’s third opera, a witty tale of deception and trust tested to the limit - a comedy with distinctly serious elements. Can two apparently faithful couples have their affections altered by some apparently harmless deception? Jonathan Miller’s ever-popular production updates the 18th-century to today – while fashions and technology may have changed since Mozart’s time, human behaviour remains as fickle and manipulative as ever. Royal Opera favorite Thomas Allen returns in a strong cast of singers under acclaimed German conductor Thomas Hengelbrock. The title may suggest that it is the way of women to behave this way – 'such is the way they are' – but then it seems to be true of the men too. In this most sophisticated of operas with the most sublime of scores, no one escapes unscathed.

The opera is sung in Italian with English subtitles and screened in two acts. The opera runs 2 hours and 55 minutes, excluding a 15 minute interval.

April 14 & 15 | Opera | Italian | Screening starts 16h00 | Running time: 2 hours 50 minutes

Verdi’s lifelong love affair with Shakespeare first took wing with Macbeth in 1847. The composer thought the play ‘one of the greatest creations of man’ and, along with his librettist Piave, set out to make of it, ‘something out of the ordinary’ on the operatic stage. Musically, Verdi’s masterstrokes were the macabre choruses for the witches, the evocative orchestral colours and the increased role for the ‘ugly and evil’ Lady Macbeth. Phyllida Lloyd’s production, last presented by The Royal Opera in 2006, uses Verdi’s 1865 revision, especially noted for Lady Macbeth’s great aria ‘La luce langue’ and the wonderful Act IV opening chorus, and brings out the dark motivations of the Macbeths and the light of justice for those they wrong.

Ballet | March 17 & 18 | Screenings Start 16h00 | 5 Acts |Running time: 157 minutes

With its panoramic crowd scenes and passionate Pas De Deux, Kenneth Macmillan’s Manon is a much-loved classic of the Royal Ballet. Tamara Rojo and Carlos Acosta dancethe principal roles Manon and Des Grieux. The fateful passion of the two lovers leads them from the bustling opulence of nineteenth-century Paris to the swamps of Louisiana. Set to the sensuous, expressive music of Massenet, Manon is one of the greatest dramatic ballets and a wonderful showcase for the skill and dramatic power of principals, soloist and company alike.