A modern update needs to be as daring with the characters as it is with the music and the setting says Naima Khan.
For their version of Don Giovanni, OperaUpClose have chosen to turn the chief spoilt lothario of this opera into a pre-credit-crunch banker. Fuelled by money and calculating in his charm, Johnny goes through women like crap through a goose. Accompanied by his far wittier intern Alexander, he exudes a predictable allure that mostly consists of throwing his money about and lying.
Set to a beautiful score that merges Mozart with a contemporary, rhythm-heavy sound and fantastic piano accompaniment from Emily Leather, it's a shame the updated dialogue and characters aren't approached with the same daring brilliance.
With a highly talented cast at her disposal, director and librettist Robin Norton-Hale fails to push the plot in an enlightening way and presents the men and women, for the most part, as banal and one-dimensional. With Johnny for example, there's room to create a really compelling, multi-faceted character imbued with all the glorious flaws of the original. In this version however, he's arch in his dastardly ways and lacks intelligence. Instead of hating him as much I should, I end up irritated by his naïve, pathetic victims.
His appeal is his looks and his money which, though simple, does work alongside Alexander. Played excellently by Richard Immergluck, the reluctant intern is a far more engaging character in his manner as well as the content of his beautifully sung speech.
Claire Egan also shines as Anna, the first of Johnny's conquests. Perhaps it's because Norton-Hale highlights the slightly more complex nature of this character. After Johnny rapes Anna, he murders her father and leaves her the task of telling his best friend (her fiance) how they've both been betrayed. Her dialogue with her fiance is one of the few moments in the production where the content is emotive enough to match the stunning music which includes Egan's superb voice. Most of the dialogue is the kind of talk you'd hear at a bar which, though realistic and occasionally very funny, doesn't really deserve an operatic presentation.
It's a bit like Cherry Truluck's set design, which lacks the luxury you come to expect with Johnny's lifestyle, but is nonetheless brilliantly used. Characters appear at every level and dining tables for barristers turn themselves into park benches for students in a flash.
Though Don Giovanni is enjoyable, it misses an opportunity to really bring the opera into the modern zeitgeist, to explore contemporary seduction and materialism with clever characters. Instead, although the form feels fresh and new and the music utterly brilliant, the setting and the characters are bland and predictable.
Don Giovanni runs at Soho Theatre until 17th September
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