Greek gods in Stetsons? This Return of Ulysses is Monteverdi done differently

Longborough has always done things a little differently to the other country-house opera festivals; it prides itself on being less stuffy than its Home Counties cousins. But that unstuffiness has taken on a literal dimension in its Cotswolds grounds this summer, since most performances are being given in a specially erected Big Top, which is designed to keep the air flowing. Seating only 190 audience members, as opposed to the 500 accommodated by the regular theatre, it necessitates stagings in the round and a different approach to production.

One artist not afraid of tackling things differently is Polly Graham, whose new staging of Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland) is also her first production as Longborough’s artistic director. Drawing its plot from The Odyssey’s final book, in which Ulisse returns from the Trojan War at long last to be reunited with his patient wife Penelope, Monteverdi’s masterpiece is one of the earliest operas in the repertoire that speaks directly to modern ears, and Graham capitalises on this with a staging of intense physicality.

Transposing the action from Ithaca to an abstract, modern-day America, she and her designer April Dalton put Ulisse into combat fatigues, making him a sufferer from military post-traumatic stress syndrome. Though their Prologue has been cut, the gods eventually turn up in cowboy hats (with Giove sporting a white Stetson). There are some traces of Americana stuck to the fridge, too, which is one of the few props.

Longborough fields an outstanding cast, notable above all for singing their florid vocal lines with verbal relish; text is key to performing Monteverdi, and everyone is supported in this by Robert Howarth, conducting from the harpsichord a small band of period instrumentalists (La Serenissima). Few if any of the singers are period specialists, yet their free declamation flows stylishly.

In the title role, Tom Randle is the most senior member of the cast, yet despite his playing up the character’s agitation, his beefy tenor suggests grounded musical authority. Lucia Cervoni brings a dark mezzo to Penelope, projecting such anguished intensity that it’s little wonder she takes some time to let down her guard when her husband returns.

Ben Johnson makes more than usual of Ulisse’s loyal friend Eumente, his tenor lending weight to the shepherd’s philosophising, while Benedict Nelson sings powerfully as one of Penelope’s three suitors, Anfinomo (the others are no less vividly drawn by Matthew Buswell and Sophie Goldrick). Among the gods, who toy with the mortals, Buswell’s firm-voiced Neptune and Claire Wild’s zesty Minerva stand out.

As Ulisse’s son Telemaco, meanwhile, overjoyed to discover the identity of the disguised beggar who has been washed ashore, Andrew Irwin has the vocal resources to make the father-and-son recognition scene the opera’s first great emotional climax. Llio Evans and Alexander Sprague are lively as the lovers Melanto and Eurimaco, servants to Penelope and the suitors respectively, the latter disclosing a tenor of sweet-toned heft. And while the gluttonous Iro can be this opera’s only tedious aspect, it’s a tribute to both Oliver Brignall and the production that his interventions here are all welcome.

Until 18 July. Tickets: 01451 830292; lfo.org.uk