English Touring Opera’s (ETO) one-night-only performance of Bellini’s The Capulets & The Montagues at York Theatre Royal on Saturday, 1 March, delivered a bold and inventive reimagining of this bel canto (an opera style, meaning ‘beautiful singing’) classic. Performed in its original Italian with English subtitles, the production paired compelling vocal performances with striking directorial choices. Bellini composed the opera in just six weeks, premiering it at Teatro La Fenice in Venice on 11 March 1830. Nearly two centuries later, ETO’s take brings a fresh, if sometimes divisive, perspective to the work.
Director Eloise Lally relocates the opera from Renaissance Verona to mid-century New York, drawing on the stark photography of Letizia Battaglia and the crime films of Martin Scorsese. Here, the feuding noble houses become rival crime families, shifting the focus from doomed romance to a world of violence and survival. The production’s most radical move is its subversion of the opera’s ending - Giulietta (Jessica Cale) gains agency, but only through Romeo’s death. While this feminist reframing is conceptually compelling, it arguably undermines the opera’s tragic weight, shifting its emotional centre in a way that may not resonate with all audiences.
Lily Arnold’s set design is minimal yet effective, with shifting walls and confined spaces that collapse as the opera progresses and Peter Garrison’s chiaroscuro lighting enhances the noir aesthetic, adding a cinematic quality to the staging. The production is highly physical, featuring a meticulously choreographed nine-minute fight scene by Kaitlin Howard and Carmine De Amicis - an undeniable technical feat. However, in an opera where the vocal line should reign supreme, it occasionally feels intrusive.
Vocally, the production is a triumph. Jessica Cale, a First Prize winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and an Audience Prize winner at the London Handel Festival International Singing Competition, brings expressive nuance and vocal agility to Giulietta. Her Oh! Quante volte is a standout moment, with elegantly phrased lines and exquisitely floated pianissimi. Opposite her, Samantha Price is a commanding Romeo. A travesti role written for mezzo-soprano, Romeo requires both vocal warmth and dramatic heft, and Price delivers both with conviction. Their duets are beautifully balanced, adding weight to the production’s feminist reimagining of the story.
Alphonse Cemin, making his ETO debut, conducts with precision and energy, though the reduced orchestration sometimes feels a little thin. Bellini’s long, arching phrases demand a greater sense of rubato than we hear here, and while the ensemble work is tight, it doesn’t always soar as it might. The small male chorus, however, is a standout, delivering a muscular and disciplined performance, particularly in the Act 1 ensemble Se ogni speme e a me rapita, which carries real dramatic weight.
ETO is known for its inventive approach to classic repertoire, and this production of The Capulets & The Montagues is no exception. Visually arresting, musically accomplished, and thematically ambitious, it offers a compelling take on Bellini’s opera. While some of its conceptual choices may prove divisive, its ambition is undeniable. A thought-provoking and stylish adaptation.
