Pinchgut’s slick and elegant take on Purcell’s Fairy Queen not to be missed

Pinchgut pulls out all the stops for slick and elegant take on Purcell’s The Fairy Queen.

Steve Moffatt

3 min read

June 11, 2025 - 1:40PM

Wentworth Courier

Pinchgut Opera's production of Henry Purcell's The Fairy Queen is a visual and musical feast. Picture: Cassandra Hannagan

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Pinchgut Opera has always been cutting edge in its approach to early operas – many of them unearthed after centuries of neglect – but their latest production of Henry Purcell’s The Fairy Queen is a new departure.

Helmed by cutting edge English director and video designer Netia Jones, the company has moved temporarily from its home at the City Recital Hall down the road to Roslyn Packer Theatre at Walsh Bay – the kind of space for which the “semi opera” was originally intended back in the late 17th century. The result is an elegantly slick and brilliant show, overseen by artistic director and conductor Erin Helyard.

The room’s acoustic may be a tad thinner than Angel Place but that’s more than made up for by the visual benefits of a proscenium and brilliant use of an enormous video backdrop. Jones has shed the cumbersome plot in favour of a series of contrasting modern day masques, or scenes, plotting the course of 24 hours in the city.

It all works seamlessly with cast members bringing on props for each scene in choreographed silhouette in front of the screen while the Orchestra of the Antipodes, led by Matthew Greco, perform the sinfonias, tunes, dances and interludes that are such an integral part of the whole.

Remnants of Shakespeare’s original characters come through. There’s a hilarious scene, choreographed by movement/assistant director Shannon Burns, in which Phoebus the sun – lavishly camped up by tenor favourite Kanen Breen in a spectacular costume – plots his solar passage across the stage to be followed by the four equally extravagantly costumed Seasons, played by dancers Franky Drousioti, Dean Elliott, Hoyori Maruo and Kino McHugh.

Pinchgut Opera's production of Henry Purcell's The Fairy Queen. Picture: Cassandra Hannagan

But as with any Pinchgut production the singing and playing is paramount, and the cast of three sopranos, three mezzos, three tenors, two bass-baritones and one bass is superb.

Full of memorable characters and songs – everyone gets a solo – Jones’s video backdrops, costumes and props conjure atmospheric scenes. We move from an airport lounge into the forest where a group of twitchers are out bird-spotting. Next we’re in a cool bar at night where a night shift nurse has knocked off for a drink while various partners pair off discreetly in the semi-darkness. Next we’re waiting for the last bus with the patrons.

Meanwhile there is action afoot in a late night radio studio before the giant digital clock on the video backdrop turns over four hours and we see the various lovers waking up in their beds.

The second half is all outdoors – a parade (Phoebus and the seasons), a wedding (of course) and the reception.

Morgan Balfour’s pure liquid soprano was a standout both as Night (the nurse) and as the marriage celebrant in the climactic final masque, while young Australian-Hungarian soprano Eden Shifroni impressed in her debut in multiple roles, notably with “If Love’s a sweet passion, why does it torment?” for which she appeared as a lovelorn floor manager whose passion for the radio announcer is ignored.

Breen was riotous again as the farm worker Mopsa in a folky “No, no, no, no, no; no kissing at all” playing off against bass Anthony Mackey, while tenors Louis Hurley and Sebastian Maclaine combined radiantly as two security guards for “Let the fifes, and clarions, and shrill trumpets sound”.

Andrew O'Connor has fun playing the Drunken Poet. Picture: Cassandra Hannagan

Pinchgut regular Andrew O’Connor had enormous fun with the Drunken Poet in the first masque, his dishevelled clowning matched by his sure, resonant and perfectly nuanced bass-baritone. Another highlight – a pin-dropping moment - was mezzo Keara Donohoe’s beautiful handling of the plaint “O let me weep”, characterised here as the rejected woman at the wedding, her rich lower register particularly moving.

Soprano Cathy-Di Zhang was lithe and acrobatic – both vocally and physically – in her multiple roles, especially the tipsy fiancée-cum-bride and her partner bass-baritone Nicholas Dinopoulos combined matinee good looks with a strong and resonant voice.

This top-notch cast was completed by mezzos Anna Fraser and Olivia Payne, both equally impressive in their cameos and ensemble moments.

If you can get a ticket I urge you to see this production. It’s beautifully sung and acted, the orchestra are wonderful and the whole is a visual feast. You won’t be disappointed.

The Fairy Queen will be performed at Roslyn Packer Theatre, Walsh Bay, on Wednesday, June 11, and Thursday, June 12, at 9.45pm, and Saturday, June 14, at 4.45pm.