Opera North: Eugene Onegin Review | The Lowry | Manchester
Tchaikovsky is giving audiences a serious confidence boost as Opera North’s Eugene Onegin spills its youthful, passionate and perilous love affair onto the Lowry stage.
We follow hopeless romantic Tatyana (Verity Wingate) as she dances between ambition and desire. Falling for a playful and dashing visitor, Onegin (John Brancy), a complicated and detached man so cynical he could have skipped straight out of an Austin novel. With his dance card full, the well-travelled Onegin is unwilling to see himself settling down with the lowly and lovesick Tatyana, choosing to ruffle a few feathers before leaving town. However, with some distance between them, the two find their lives taking very different paths. As Tatyana becomes a self-assured woman, rising in the social ranks of society with a new husband, Onegin becomes less seduced by his glitzy lifestyle and finds himself enamoured with Tatyana, the woman he has grown to love.
Alexander Pushkin’s 1833 coming-of-age poetic novel, adapted by Tchaikovsky, has been refreshed by Opera North in a shrewd fashion. Tchaikovsky’s 1879 Russian debut has time warped to the 1980s and beyond, to the fall of the Soviet Union, allowing Opera North to play with the turbulence of time, transformations and the breaking of constraints as Tchaikovsky’s score pulses with energy. The stylish ensemble pours their light onto the open-ended set through the use of vibrant costumes and beautiful chorus work as they reflect the optimistic moments in time. Patrick Nolan’s direction ensures that Tatyana’s metamorphosis is reflected in the developing scenery, whilst being visually formed in designer Elizabeth Gadsby’s smart styling.
With a lightness that carries throughout the production, Tatyana is given the emotional and physical space to take ownership of the stage and her life. Her tale moves through a gradual glow-up that includes wonderful arias full of yearning to a sumptuous score performed by the Opera North orchestra. As Tatyana takes her first steps and pens a letter to her unrequited love, the song Kto to not angel li hrantiel gives the Lowry audience a taste of the impulsive characters that frame Eugene Onegin. Onegin coaxes audiences through the first two acts with an unforgettable Waltz and a charmingly flirty performance against a backdrop of fairy lights. With Onegin’s brash personality and prideful nature causing a swift change in fortune, the arresting Wingate and Brancy shoulder a heavy shift to the tale, moving audiences into a darker reality of loss and rejection.
While audiences familiar with the classic can rediscover Eugene Onegin through a distinctive reworking of the murderous and tender fairytale, new audiences can discover the clear beauty in Tchaikovsky’s impassioned work. Opera North’s production mixes the old and new to capture the feeling of resistance and loss, ensuring Eugene Onegin strikes at the heart of all music lovers.
Tickets are available via the Lowry link