The Moderate Soprano, theatre review: Eccentric champion of the opera

For all the piece’s good points, there lurks the unshakeable, awkward feeling that this is a vanity project, when it actually isn't, says Fiona Mountford
Delightful: Roger Allam captures John Christie’s appealingly over-the-top manner of benign dictatorship
Manuel Harlan
Fiona Mountford30 October 2015

Do we really need a play about Glyndebourne? If we do — although I, a Glyndebourne fan at that, remain unconvinced — is there not something disquieting about the fact that such a celebration of unashamed elitism should be written by that erstwhile scourge of the establishment, David Hare? Is Sir David perhaps going soft in his maturing years? For all the piece’s good points, there lurks the unshakeable, awkward feeling that this is what it actually isn’t: a vanity project commissioned by Glyndebourne itself to celebrate more than 80 years of exquisite music-making.

What is beyond doubt is that John Christie (Roger Allam), Glyndebourne’s patrician founder, deserves his place in a drama. An amiable eccentric in the Wodehouse tradition, he was a highly praised captain in the First World War and a science master at Eton before deciding that his dream was to build an “English Bayreuth” in the grounds of his Sussex estate. As unshakeably driven in this seemingly overreaching ambition as he was previously in his wooing of the much younger singer Audrey Mildmay (Nancy Carroll), the titular soprano, this confirmed Germanophile cannily enlisted three of that country’s musical eminences to work with him towards the 1934 opening of this most British of institutions.

Christie’s appealingly over-the-top manner of benign dictatorship, delightfully captured by Allam, means that he hogs both the action and all the best lines and ensures that the other characters remain rather sketchy in comparison. Jeremy Herrin’s production gets bogged down in some long, static and exposition-heavy scenes. It would be good to hear more from the always watchable Carroll, as a woman whose career and marriage didn’t necessarily dovetail seamlessly.

Flash-forwards hint at future trouble, with Mildmay’s health and the finances. Hare admirably doesn’t shirk the issue of Glyndebourne’s challenging prices; Mildmay expresses concern, before Christie responds with a cherishably rambunctious speech about the audience needing to demonstrate a commitment and sacrifice commensurate to that of the artists. Amid his blathering, sound words about respect for high art are spoken. Glyndebourne would be proud of the sentiment.

Until November 28, Hampstead Theatre (020 7722 9301, hampsteadtheatre.com)

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