JEFF CLARKE

THE DAUGHTER OF THE REGIMENT

Gaetano Donizetti
Libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and
Jean-François Bayard

New English translation by Jeff Clarke

Buxton Festival 2018

Cast:
Marsha Berkenfield KATHARINE TAYLOR JONES
Mr Hortensius ROBERT GILDON
Sulpice CHARLES JOHNSTON
Marie ELIN PRITCHARD
Tonio JESUS ALVAREZ
Dulcie Crackenthorpe PHILIP COX
The Governor of California RICHARD WOODALL
Mrs Van Der Gelder JEREMY VINOGRADOV

THE REGIMENT
Tulip RICHARD BELSHAW
Beef PHILIP COX
Tiny GRAHAM STONE
Crispy MARTIN GEORGE
Rabbit JEREMY VINOGRADOV
Lump RICHARD WOODALL

Production team:
Director JEFF CLARKE
Musical Director TOBY PURSER
Assistant MD & Conductor at Wilton’s BENEDICT KEARNS
Assitant Director MICHAEL HOWCROFT
Set Designer GRAHAM WYNNE
Costume Designer MARIA LANCASHIRE
Lighting Designer for Wilton’s IAN WILSON
Stage Manager ELA SCHMID
Assistant Stage Manager MALI BETH ROBERTS
Production Manager JAMES ANDERTON
Dialect Coach MATTHEW BLOXHAM
Orchestral arrangement JOHN LONGSTAFF


Iford Festival 2014

Cast:

Marsha Berkenfield KATHARINE TAYLOR-JONES
Mr Hortensius JAMES HARRISON
Sulpice ADRIAN CLARKE
Marie SUZANNE SHAKESPEARE
Tulip RICHARD BELSHAW
Beef PHILIP COX
Tiny GRAHAM STONE
Crispy MARTIN GEORGE
Rabbit ANGUS McALLISTER
Lump RICHARD WOODALL
Tonio JESUS ALVAREZ
Dulcie Crackenthorpe PHILIP COX

Director JEFF CLARKE
Conductor TOBY PURSER
Designer NIGEL HOWARD
Orchestral Arrangement JOHN LONGSTAFF

“Jeff Clarke’s production of The Daughter of the Regiment suggested a company in riotously rude health….”
YEHUDA SHAPIRO Opera Magazine



⭒⭒⭒⭒⭒ “The Buxton Festival has often been at its best when it has balanced high drama with comedy in its operatic offerings. This year it has wisely turned to Jeff Clarke and his Opera della Luna to provide the fun quotient. For Opera della Luna, adaptation is the name of the game. Clarke has not only got John Longstaff to reduce the score – the chorus is all male here, and three of the six of them double in other roles – but he’s rewritten the book completely.  It’s all great fun and very cleverly matches the essence of the original.”
Robert Beale MANCHESTER THEATRE AWARDS

“Opera della Luna’s Artistic Director certainly takes Donizetti’s “little opera” seriously: his production, first seen in 2014 and now slightly revised, treats the opera with a light and loving touch as it transfers the action from the nineteenth century Swiss Tyrol to the desert mountain ranges of California during the 1950s.  Jeff Clarke and the terrific cast gave us a joyful evening of sunny high spirits.  Once again Opera della Luna served up some seriously slick comedy.”
Claire Seymour OPERA TODAY
[non production specific review]

It seems fashionable these days for directors to contradict the score as a matter of form: how else can you explain Stefan Herheim’s utterly contrary production of Pelléas et Mélisande at Glyndebourne this summer, or indeed Barrie Kosky’s mess of a Carmen at the Royal Opera? Meanwhile, directors such as Jeff Clarke of Opera della Luna and Martin Lloyd-Evans at Holland Park barely get a look in at the major opera houses. I presume because their work tends to be the sort of thing that audiences actually want to see and enjoy.
Feedback OPERA NOW