Albert Herring

Published Monday 22 October 2007 at 11:40 by Edward Bhesania

Britten’s ensemble opera, focusing on the Suffolk greengrocer’s boy who breaks away from his mother’s apron strings and the town’s suffocating moral values, began its life at Glyndebourne in 1947 and Sir Peter Hall’s production, first seen in 1985 and now revived by James Robert Carson, marks a significant achievement in the work’s performance history.

John Gunter’s designs - from Lady Billows’ baronial breakfast room to the Herrings’ greengrocer’s shop - strongly reflect a cosy village atmosphere, where tradition and appearances are paramount. The grandiose marquee, where high tea is celebrated in Act II following Albert’s coronation as May King, drew spontaneous applause from an appreciative audience.

There’s a careful balance throughout between caricature - of the local vicar, school ma’am, mayor and superintendent - and social irony, yet Albert’s alcohol-induced scene of self-realisation in Act II can be psychologically tauter.

The village children and the lovers Sid and Nancy (the supposedly worldly couple, whose naive lacing of Albert lemonade triggers his rebellion) are the perfect, carefree foil to the overbearing moral fortitude of the local dignitaries.

Robert Murray is particularly strong in Herring’s downtrodden pre-transformation. Miranda Keys successfully ages up the role of Lady Billows, and of the dignitaries, Adrian Thompson’s bright tenor characterises the mayor, while Lynton Black eases satisfyingly into his pipe-smoking, harrumphing superintendent.

Rory MacDonald can perhaps draw more defined colour from his fine ensemble, though the nocturnal bass flute and bass clarinet duet of the second Interlude is magically spun.

As the debate continues as to what it is to be British, we here are faced with what we hope it is not.