Tim Hochstrasser 
Inevitably there are many priceless anecdotes that had to be left out of this play, and its dramatic transformation is not perfect. But it captures the spirit of the original faithfully, and will one hopes bring more readers to a book that is now well on its way to becoming a modern classic. Humour like this, formed in the face of adversity, is a form of grace that generously helps to make life more bearable for everyone else.
In sum, this is a thoroughly absorbing evening in the theatre with high professional values across the board, but where the real rewards and revelation come in the second half.
Montemezzi may have been something of a one-work composer, but this performance made the best case possible for his masterpiece, and we can only hope that the repute of this revival will stimulate a wave of further performances at home and abroad. The whole evening showed Opera Holland Park at its very best.
Yet, Holland Park Opera, here working under director Aylin Bozok, show that these problems are by no means insuperable where the company have confidence in the quality of the work itself and perform it with sensitivity and full commitment.
If you have missed this charming opera this time around then do book now for one of the performances at the Linbury Studio Theatre in early November. You won’t regret it.
This is a noisy and shouty play and in many ways that is necessarily so – industrial processes, bombs, football matches, drinking in the pub – these provide the necessary loud framework around the still centre of the men trapped both literally in the cellar of the Marples Hotel and figuratively by their own fears and terrors. In some respects therefore this is too big a play for the Finborough’s tiny space.
This is a very great opera that can take many different interpretations. However, there is no room for compromise. Ultimately, it either has to be done straight and with absolute conviction that the themes with which it deals are as important to our culture now as they were to Verdi in the 1860s. Or if the traditional setting is thought to raise too many troubling questions or is beyond budget to realize then a fully thought-through alternative scenario is needed.
So often the press night comes too early in a run to fully assess a production’s potential. This welcome and ambitious new version has not yet attained greatness but certainly has the makings of it.
