Falstaff at the Aotea Centre

By TARA WERNER

AOTEA CENTRE, Auckland - Laughing at Falstaff means laughing at yourself. Most people are capable of vain behaviour, though they might not have the ego of Shakespeare's foolish knight, nor his delusions about his sexual prowess.

Falstaff may be an opportunistic fool, but one who always lives life to the full and yet finally realises his own frailties.

It is this essentially human quality, with an edge of sadness, that Conal Coad brings so magnificently to NBR New Zealand Opera's fast-paced production of Verdi's final masterpiece.

Strutting around the stage like an overconfident cockerel with a very large paunch, Coad looked and sounded as if the part was crafted for him. His sense of comic timing was impeccable, a leer here (particularly down the front of Dame Quickly's highly revealing bodice), a snigger there when attempting to woo Alice Ford.

And yet his sense of pathos was just as real, especially when feeling sorry for himself after being thrown unceremoniously into the Thames in a clothes basket.

Coad's buffoonery had an excellent match in his female protagonists. Patricia Wright as Alice Ford, Carmel Carroll as Meg Page and their equally outlandish friend Dame Quickly (Helen Medlyn) were a laugh a minute, especially Medlyn with her antics. Her tall headdress had to be seen to be believed, a perfect bouffant replica of Marge from the Simpsons.

Meantime Roderick Earle was a convincing Ford, his sense of betrayal almost palpable, and Richard Greager sang a simpering Dr Caius.

Falstaff's cronies, Brendon Mercer as Bardolph and Richard Green as Pistol, made an entertaining duo.

The love interest (Deborah Wai Kahope as Nannetta and Paul Chappory as Fenton) were a handsome couple, although not quite as vocally strong as the others.

The chorus had little to do apart from the finale, and there they added nicely to the fairytale atmosphere. The inflatable plastic sets, however, came off second best to all the singers, though a bouncy Windsor Castle provided great amusement, even deflating by accident at the end.

Not so full of hot air was the Auckland Philharmonia under Wyn Davies. They both did justice to Verdi's clever orchestration, with its own comic hints of self-parody.