Semele

by George Frideric Handel

Glyndebourne

Cast: Joelle Harvey / Stuart Jackson / Stephanie Wake-Edwards / Jennifer Johnston / Aryeh / Nussbaum Cohen / Samuel Mariño / Clive Bayley

Dancers: Robin Gladwin / Harriet Waghorn / Jonathan Mewett / Jack Richardson

Conductor: Václav Luks / Choreographer: Emma Woods / Set Designer: Annemarie Woods / Costume Designer: Hannah Clark / Lighting Designer: Peter Mumford + Rick Fisher

Photographer: Richard Hubert Smith

★★★★ a fresh angle on the incendiary story
Evening Standard

★★★★ Adele Thomas’ new production fo Glyndebourne makes a good case for its operatic credentials.

Bachtrack

★★★★ This, though, is a consistent and thoughtful interpretation of a gloriously eclectic piece

The Arts Desk

Remarkable
Opera

★★★★ Thunder roars. Lightning flashes. And its bright bursts reveal two entangled bodies on stage, then a lone naked woman undulating on the floor and a stony figure who watches from afar. In this beginning lies the end. Sex and revenge are intertwined. It makes for a visually striking start to Adele Thomas’s new production of Handel’s Semele, setting the tone for a show that’s confident, smart and endlessly entertaining
The Times