Dido and Aeneas, Pitlochry review - 'rough and ready'

Performed by a combination of professional and amateur singers in a mixture of Scots and Gaelic, this production from the Scots Opera Project provided some memorable moments, writes Ken Walton

Dido and Aeneas, Pitlochry Festival Theatre ★★★

According to one of Henry Purcell’s contemporaries, the 17th century composer demonstrated “a peculiar genius to express the energy of English words”. So what happens when such an adventurous troupe as the Scots Opera Project, in a co-production with Pitlochry Festival Theatre, take Nahum Tate’s original Virgil-inspired libretto for the composer’s Dido and Aeneas and recasts it as a curious amalgam of Scots and Gaelic?

The answer is part-provided at Pitlochry’s enchanting alfresco woodland amphitheatre where singer-director David Douglas’ opera company has applied its signature pro-am formula to creating a rather couthy take on the tragic tale. Under an encroaching canopy of Perthshire trees, and near Dunkeld’s Birnam Wood, it seems the perfect spot to spice the witches’ incantations with the sharp tang of Macbeth and dress them like woodland spirits, the hissing agents of Dido’s destruction.

Emma Morwood as Dido in Dido and Aeneas at Pitlochry Festival Theatre PIC: Fraser Band

All of which goes hand in hand with the rough and ready nature of this performance. On the one hand you have seasoned professionals: Emma Morwood, her Dido a magnetic presence and glowing vocal powerhouse; Colleen Nicoll warmly blossoming as Belinda as Saturday’s opening performance progressed; Ulrika Wutscher’s penetratingly evil Sorceress; and Colin Murray’s Aeneas, gallant but underserved in conviction and characterisation.

Then there’s the all-purpose Community Chorus, more stand-and-deliver than physically exhilarating (what happened to the dances?), and supplying a wonderfully snarling ensemble of witchss. .

As for the Scots/Gaelic translation, much of it is too indistinct to make a discernible impression. But there’s a certain quaintness in hearing Morwood in Dido’s famous Lament replace her valedictory “Remember me” with “Yese mind o’ me”. We will.

Until 15 September