Last staged in 2022, Mozart’s opera Così fan tutte returns to the English National Opera in Phelim McDermott’s production. Relocating the Italian 18th century setting to 1950s Coney Island, New York, McDermott and set designer Tom Pye have created a world where comedy, drama, intrigue and cabaret collide.
During the overture, a variety of circus performers showcasing skills such as sword swallowing, fire eating, contortion, and burlesque enter via a stage trunk, displaying signs about the themes in the opera. It is light, colourful, and very witty. This idea is carried through Così fan tutte, as the 12-strong ‘skills ensemble’ adds flavour and decoration to many scenes. Watch out for them in the burger stand in particular, wiping the counter in unison.
The basic story of this opera is about love, lies, and “the ultimate relationship test”, to quote the programme. Così fan tutte translates roughly as “women are like that”, assuming their fickleness and incapability to be faithful. Ferrando and Guglielmo feel their lives are perfect and their girlfriends above suspicion.
Cynical Don Alfonso, philosopher and meddler, seeks to prove them wrong by orchestrating a trick against their ladies, sisters Dorabella and Fiordiligi. In this, he has the help of their maid, Despina. When the men ‘go off to war’ and return disguised as flash friends of Alfonso, can the sisters resist temptation?
Così fan tutte contains many famous arias, from Despina’s “Una donna a quindici anni” (that gives the sisters an excuse to flirt) to Fiordiligi’s “Come Scoglio”, a showcase of high and low notes for a coloratura soprano. Translated into English by Jeremy Sams, this libretto is accessible, amusing, and full of life.
The decision to set this story against a Ferris wheel and lurid posters for acts such as “Louis, the non-human child” and “Sweet Marie, 640lbs” gives the whole opera a sense of the freak show, where human nature can be twisted and manipulated in a moment. Despina (who slurps chocolate meant for the guests) and Alfonso (wearing a bright yellow suit, a colour traditionally associated with betrayal and jealousy) are despicable and immoral.
Everything is heightened. As their men leave for the front, Dorabella and Fiordiligi fall into an almost suicidal despondency that feels ridiculous after a day, while the returning, disguised, Ferrando and Guglielmo display similar instability. How they would survive even a working day apart is questionable.
With such a small core of characters, any weakness would be quickly apparent. Luckily, in this instance, we have a strong core quartet in soprano Lucy Crowe (Fiordiligi), mezzo Taylor Raven (Dorabella), tenor Joshua Blue (Ferrando), and baritone Darwin Prakash (Guglielmo), allowing Mozart’s melodies to come through loud and clear.
Prakash in particular captures the swagger and depth in his character, balancing the richness of the music with the slapstick style required to act the role. Crowe, an accomplished opera veteran, offers an amusing and affecting portrayal of a woman who sees her constancy hanging by a thread, struggling to keep it intact.
For Raven’s Dorabella, the comedic aspects of the role are enthusiastically taken, while her aria “Smanie implacabili” makes the most of the theatrical despair in which she finds herself. And Blue’s Ferrando is a dedicated romantic who displays a fetching sincerity and sensitivity.
Finally, the duplicitous duo Don Alfonso (bass-baritone Andrew Foster-Williams) and Despina (soprano Ailish Tynan) keep the plot moving with their goading, persuading, and deception. They even seem to share a conspiratorial post-coital cigarette, while she offers the moments of disguise the plot requires, notably as a fairground charlatan and a lawyer.
This version of Così fan tutte offers refreshing sight gags but doesn’t quite marry the comic opera with the fairground setting, nor can it disguise the over-familiar plot or the underlying sarcasm against women. It does engage in a tongue-in-cheek exploration of whether, in fact, “everyone is like that”, and it doesn’t stint on the musical elements under conductor Dinis Sousa.
At 3 hours 15 minutes, it is an average length for an opera, and its comic elements may make it more approachable for audiences new to the genre. As the ENO perform in English, the words are easy to follow, and they are also displayed as surtitles above the stage.
Mozart wrote Così fan tutte in 1790, but it still has strong contemporary resonance, albeit at a heightened level. The ache and artifice of young love will always be a common theme, and it was gratifying to see both Dorabella and Fiordiligi with a bit of fire in their bellies. Did we go home with a satisfying feeling after the rush forward of curtain calls? I do hope so.
I’m giving this ***.5.
Così fan tutte, by English National Opera, is a co-production with the Metropolitan Opera, New York, in collaboration with Improbable. It plays at the London Coliseum until 21 Feb 2026.
Photo credit: James Glossop