Orphée et Eurydice, Royal Opera House ****

Thanks to the unique staging of this opera, the Royal Opera House has offered a unique opportunity to students to stand in the orchestra pit to witness Hofesh Shechter and John Fulljames' radical staging of Gluck's interpretation of the story of Orpheus. As this was the final dress rehearsal, some aspects may have been change by opening night, not least the faulty surtitle machine that did not work in the first half and flickered on and off throughout the considerably shorter second half. Not being aware of the myth of Orpheus, I was slightly confused at the interval, considering it is sung in French in a production whose main purpose isn't to provide a precise and clear narrative. Despite this, the sheer talent on stage kept me engaged for the first 75 minutes before the interval, where I reached for the synopsis. On the dancing side, the Hofesh Schechter company have an animalistic and aggressive sensibility which work well in their part as furies and helps to show the funeral rituals at the beginning of the opera. Juan Diego Florez sings Orpheus but he doesn't quite reach the heart like Lucy Crowe, Amanda Forsythe , and the Montiverdi choir do. Lucy Crowe in particular is convincing and rather touching. Conor Murphy's design is grand yet simple with the exception of the hydraulic system that moves the English Baroque Soloists up and down. I love a baroque opera and of the three I've seen it slots neatly in the middle of Glyndebourne's magnificent offering and the ENO's chaotic one with this different offering for a positive start to a new Royal Opera House season.