In March 2023 I went to watch Cunning Little Vixen at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham. The Opera is composed by Leos Janacek and brought to Nottingham by Opera North.
I really enjoyed this opera, at first I was a bit confusing but once it got going it was very enjoyable and easy to follow. The set and costume design in this production were very clever, especially so considering it was a touring company.
The set was a large raised platform that was textured to look like a forest floor, it pulled apart to reveal an indoor setting that cleverly used trap doors to hid set pieces. The simplistic use of white sheets to transform the set into winter and orange pillows decorated with leaves for autumn was very effective.
The costumes were also cleverly used to suggest animals through minimal costuming. Headpieces and props are used to hint to animalistic qualities. I particularly liked the dragon fly, which used a simple metallic bodysuit and dragon fly prop which was carried around on the end of a stick giving the actor freedom to perform the dance sequences he appeared. The only costume I found questionable was the vixens first costume, I felt this was very difficult to read and it wasn't until 10 minutes after she first appeared on screen when we were told in a song she was a vixen that I knew what animal she was meant to be. Perhaps a tail or a more orange coloured costume would have helped.
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