Monteverdi: Il Ritorno D’Ulisse In Patria – Emmanuelle Haim

   in Opera Now (Apr, 2018)
A more robust style is cultivated in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, which contrasts its divine aspects with rather earthier scenes. In Mariame Clément’s production, filmed at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, there is no standing on ceremony. Almost the only people with any innate dignity are Ulisse and Penelope, who endure their lot with stoicism: the gods are a motley bunch of social misfits, huddled over their glasses in a down-market boozer, and Penelope’s black-tied suitors have a whiffof Bullingdon entitlement about them. Characters are generally placed by their costume, so expect a mixture of contemporary and classical, with some jokiness thrown it (a plumptious Iro clutches his bag of …