The Winter’s Tale
English National Opera, Coliseum, London

Shakespeare and opera are uneasy bedfellows – a scant handful of successful adaptations from a zillion attempts, and the good ones (for example Verdi’s Macbeth) tend to stray pretty far from the originals.

Composer Ryan Wigglesworth’s editing is a lesson in precis and making singable lines (the whole pentameter is too long to be made intelligible) while staying true to Shakespeare’s words. And yet, in its eagerness to get to the nub – those themes of separation, reconciliation, forgiveness, atonement – it loses its way. Opera has to replace words with music, atmosphere, meaning. But when you ditch Shakespeare’s words – the only repository of his magic and wizardry – you had better find something pretty useful to fill the gaps. And this is where Wigglesworth’s wheels start to look a bit wobbly.