(Michael Billington’s article appeared in the Guardian, 10/20.)
Laurie Sansom is not the first person this year to give Webster's masterpiece a musical setting. But, after the agonised frustrations of the ENO/Punchdrunk immersive "opera", Sansom's decision to use eight madrigals by the murderous composer Carlo Gesualdo seems inspired. Performed by five on-stage black-clad singers under the direction of Jonathan Peter Kenny, the Italian madrigals chime perfectly with Webster's own obsession with death.
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