It’s a bunch of firsts for the Hampstead Garden Opera and their new production of Claudio Monteverdi’s marvellous opera L’incoronazione di Poppea. Hosted at the Jackson Lane Theatre, it is the first time they are performing with surtitles and asking their 12 young soloists to sing the opera in its original Italian language.

To coincide with the 450th anniversary of Monteverdi’s birth, his masterful opera of power, greed, and lust seemed most apt, and it is to the delight of their impressive singers that the production doesn’t feel like an amateur’s feast, at least that is what I felt when I saw it on Friday night.

The soloists are also accompanied by musical director Oliver John Ruthven who strikes a balance between strong voices and the dedicated ensemble, Musica Poetica – a small orchestra of eight musicians with expertise in period instruments including harpsichord, theorbo, harp, viola da gamba, violins, and violone. Put together this makes for an exquisite evening for any Baroque devotee.

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‘Better late than never’, as some may say or in my case, better to find out for yourself than depend on two-star reviews. The time came to see Ivo van Hove‘s production of Obsession with its lead protagonist performed by film and stage actor Jude Law, and one would think that given Hove’s international reputation and Law’s virtuoso acting the show would be a big hit, yet instead this is perhaps one production that meets a degree of anti-climax.

At the main stage of the Barbican Centre, theatrical technicalities and marvellous acting are worth the bite, yet the writing is basic, dry and stale. Yet, what creative device or person(s) do we blame for the production’s flaws?

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