Emma Roxburgh as Susanna delivers her lines with Mozartian grace.
It is ambitious indeed to take on a major Mozart stage presentation, but Opera Factory's well-paced, lively Marriage of Figaro proves to be no mean achievement.
Working with a youngish cast, director Sally Sloman lets us peep through an 18th-century window at the follies and foibles of this Upstairs, Downstairs
tale of sexual intrigue and class struggle.
John Eaglen's fairly traditional set is both elegant and resourceful, tellingly lit by Phillip Dexter. Rosemary Barnes' musical direction ensures a solidity that only really threatens to break apart in the bigger ensembles.
The spotlight is very much on Edward Scorgie's Figaro and Emma Roxburgh's Susanna. Scorgie reveals a suave comic talent and yet, in his threatening Se vuol ballare, reminds us that the French Revolution is only a few years away.
Roxburgh is a trouper, enduring a few hands-all-over onslaughts from the libidinous Count, milking maximum humour from the English recitative and always delivering her lines with that vital Mozartian grace.
Her letter duet with Emma Sloman's Countess in Act III would hold its own in any professional production.
If Malcolm Ede's Count seems a little awkward on stage, making for a less than effective "Vedro mentre io sospiro", then Sloman's Countess is totally assured, with a gift for fluent recitative and, in Dove sono, displays an enviable sense of phrasing.
Sarah Wall catches the character of Cherubino to the tip of her tricorne hat, and sure knows how to swagger when forced into a crinoline. But the singing needs more focus; tempo alone is not the only way to bring urgency to Non so piu cosa son.
Teresa Connors' Marcellina, with flashing eyes, heaving bosom and fluttering fan, is a force to be reckoned with, and has the perfect partner in Brian McNeill's droll Bartolo.
Garreth Spillane wittily presents Don Basilio with mincing step and pouting gesture, blurring the line between effete and sinister, while the agreeably broad humour of John Leightley's gardener is balanced by the sweet unaffected song of Leah Wright's Barbarina.
With two more performances this Wednesday and Friday, Opera Factory's zesty Marriage is a wedding to put in your diary.
