Opera

Pagliacci

Seedhill Sports Ground, Paisley

Keith Bruce, four stars

WITH the precious committed support of the local authority, on the back of its City of Culture bid, the latest Scottish Opera initiative is another inventive used of an articulated lorry trailer. Having created a miniature Glasgow Theatre Royal to truck round the nation with its Pop-Up miniaturisation of repertoire, here is an expansive take on Leoncavallo’s best known work for which the trailer is a mere platform for the play-within-a-play, set in the context of a vast Big Top of activity.

With Silvio (Samuel Dale Johnson), lover of the much-in-demand Nedda (Anna Patalong), costumed as a Scottish Opera Techie, this is a multi-layered circus in which professional musicians, community chorus and ticket-buying audience are all in it together. The orchestra are allowed to stay in the one place, but a lot is asked of – and delivered by – the singers, with Alasdair Elliott (Beppe), Robert Hayward (Tonio), and Ronald Samm (Canio) completing the excellent cast, the latter delivering a superb Vesti la giubba (the show’s big Enrico Caruso hit) to close the first act.

Director Bill Bankes-Jones, conductor Stuart Stratford and their ScotOp team have created an interpretation of Pagliacci that gives it much more air (quite literally), and makes the somewhat convoluted narrative and allegorical content a breeze. The tented venue and the participation of amateur singers and volunteer front-of-house staff is absolutely intrinsic to that success. If the first night had a flaw it was only that the audience was a little slow to get in on the act, and I expect the community cast learn from that and become more persuasive/assertive for the other performances.

If you are able to catch this unique experience (repeated on Saturday and Sunday), make sure you do – and arrive early enough to appreciate the pre-performance sideshows. If you’ve missed it this time, join the clamour for the return of Paisley Opera House next summer.