Cosi fan tutte

It might have been presented in the upstairs room of a pub, but from the moment PopUp Opera launched into Mozart’s opera buffa with a Jeeves and Wooster-styled picnic ending in a fight, all other distractions were forgotten (and that was just a bit of silent comedy to accompany the overture). With a meticulously rehearsed cast, intelligent direction and joyously played piano accompaniment (from Berrak Dyer), it all makes for an enthralling show.

But then, such constrictions are not make-do, but rather just one of the trademarks of this small and talented opera company; others include subtle recurring motifs, low-level audience participation and absurd, laugh-out-loud surtitles.

Cleverly setting it in a country house during the Great War, director Darren Roysten finds a perfect scenario in PG Wodehouse-like world, with wily butler Don Alfonso  (a carefully understated turn from bass-baritone Alexander Learmonth) and impish maid Despina (soprano Clementine Lovell) aiding the boys (tenor Adam Torrance as Ferrando and baritone Oskar McCarthy as Guglielmo) in testing the fidelity of their fiancées (a pair of chaste sisters played by soprano Eve Daniell as Fiordiligi, and mezzo Chloe Hinton as Dorabella).

What a joy to experience Mozart’s comedy of deception and seduction in an intimate chamber setting, the usually laboured plot benefitting from judicious cutting to just over two hours. Another pared-down aspect is the surtitles. Rather than presenting a continuously distracting verbatim translation of the libretto, these sporadic projections summarise the plot as weather forecasts, opticians’ sight tests and offer hilarious mistranslated anachronisms – ‘Don’t forget to Skype us,’ say the girls as their beaux pretend to go off to war, only to return disguised as exotic foreigners with odd moustaches and turbans sprouting peacock feathers.

Clearly there has been some serious casting to uncover these fine singers and comic actors. That the little room shook during the Act I sextet and finale only demonstrates that PopUp Opera is definitely ready for bigger stages to demonstrate its substantial talents. Whether you love opera, or you’ve never been to one, be sure to catch this.