Janos Gereben wrote about a bizarre production of "L'Italiana in Algeri"
and one may agree that it is very difficult to prove the uniqueness of what
he saw but I have to point out that it all sounds very much like the Dario
Fo production at the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam in 1995 (which featured
Jennifer "Lovely" Larmore; it was conducted by Zedda).
Fo, known in the field of Italian theatre (and film?) for his loony
slapstick threw everything into his production and whilst it was amusing on
a once-off basis a repeat visit showed that it was wearing thin very quickly
and the continous movements on stage were becoming irritating. One had the
impression also that Larmore was beginning to tire of it all rather quickly.
So it sounds as if this may not be an "original" and that Director David
Edwards may well have borrowed numerous ideas from Fo!
John G. Deacon
Home page: http://www.ctv.es/USERS/j.deacon
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