Opera Scotland

Macbeth 1987Scottish Opera-Go-Round

Read more about the opera Macbeth

Scottish Opera-go-round mounted this fascinating adaptation of Macbeth in a staging which introduced the work of Richard Jones and Nigel Lowery to the company. The staging was startlingly effective, with sets almost in cartoon style - bright red for the most part.

In Jones's adaptation of the score, the necessary absence of a chorus allowed us to see a restoration of Shakespeare's trio of weird sisters, on stage for extended periods directing affairs (with one also taking the role of Lady-in-Waiting).

Macduff and Lady Macbeth both had embryonic big voices. Richard Berkeley-Steele had sung Fenton and Tamino with Glyndebourne but would eventually become an excellent Siegfried. Mary Lloyd-Davies later went on to sing the title role in Elektra.  Omar Ebrahim's voice was not on that scale, and was stretched to the limit - indeed he would have been unwise to sing Macbeth in any other circumstances.  But he gave a rivetingly-acted interpretation of the doomed thane.

Scottish Opera's Season - 1986/87

This season comprised Nine main stage productions plus an Opera-Go-Round staging with piano, and a most unusual Edinburgh Festival event.   The new productions were Carmen,  Iolanthe,  Intermezzo,  Flying Dutchman,   From the House of the Dead,   Billy Budd,  and  Madama Butterfly.  There were two revivals, The Marriage of Figaro and The Barber of Seville.  The Opera-Go Round production was of Verdi's Macbeth,  The season opened at the Edinburgh Festival, with a concert including music from Gershwin's Girl Crazy.