Rigoletto

Rigoletto *

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL

IF SCOTTISH Opera ceased to exist - as could easily happen - what might we be left with?

Probably imported rubbish like last night’s abysmal production of Verdi’s Rigoletto by the touring Ukrainian National Opera of Odessa.

It was truly execrable - shaky scenery that even a sixth form school production would find embarrassing; one change of scene that left us a pregnant pause of almost ten minutes; singing that varied between reasonable and downright incompetent.

Never have I seen a production so lacking in creativity and imagination that it reduced Verdi’s immortal music to little more than one-dimensional banality.

That process was helped by a Rigoletto - I won’t embarrass him by mentioning his name - who swooped and scooped around everything but the right note.

Around him, the singing of Larysa Zuenko’s Gilda and Ruslan Zinevych’s Duke hit closer to the mark, but lacked real insight and depth.

Littering such inaction with two monstrous dogs - their indifferent expressions said it all - live birds of prey and incongruously titillating nudity did nothing to invigorate this woeful display.

An eleventh hour improvement in the final act came too late.

Scottish audiences not only deserve better than this, they expect it.