Welsh National Opera: Eugene Onegin at the Mayflower Southampton Review

Reviewed by Amy Adeliyi

I had the opportunity to attend the Welsh National Opera performance of Eugene Onegin at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton, a famous Russian opera with music from Tchaikovsky. I have never been to an opera before and was intrigued as to how I would follow the story. However, the subtitles were shown above the stage and were easy to follow whilst still watching the performers on stage. The voices were all very strong and clearly heard both individually and when sang in a larger group. My favourite in particular was Prince Gremin’s voice, a beautiful tone and emotion portrayed throughout his performance. The orchestra was energetic and beautifully played.

The story is quite bleak and not particularly light-hearted with distinct turmoil faced by the two main characters throughout the performance. The story focuses on the unrequited love of the two main characters, Tatyana and Eugene. With Tatyana declaring her love for Eugene in the early scenes and being coldly turned down and humiliated by her unrequited love. Eugene then falls out with his best friend Lensky over his advances on Tatyana’s sister Olga at the ball, who he then later kills during a duel. The end scene shows Eugene after many years abroad vying for Tatyana’s love once he has seen her happily married to a prince. Tatyana although declaring her love for Eugene declines his advances and insists on the need to keep her faithfulness to her husband.

If you are new to opera, be aware that the show is 3½ hours long, with 5 short intervals for scene changes and two longer 15 minute intervals for complete set changes. The sets are quite simplistic/minimalist focusing on stark winter scenes (during the duel) and large rooms without the opulence of regal surroundings for the ballroom scenes. This did however focus your eyes on the beautiful ballroom dresses and performance of the singers on stage.

We were seated in the dress circle, which offered a fantastic view of the stage and orchestra. I would suggest booking an end of aisle seat if you have longer legs as this does give you more space to stretch out as it can be a tight squeeze. The theatre itself is clean and the interior looked well maintained, although due for refurbishment in 2018.

The Mayflower Theatre is close to rail links, with multi-story car parks close by. I would encourage visitors to check for any local events such as football matches as the traffic coming into Southampton can be extremely busy at these times. Also, to be prepared for longer waits as you leave Southampton due to mass exodus from local carparks after the show.

I’m not sure I would return to see the show again purely as it was quite a bleak story, however the orchestra and singers were faultless in their performance giving them a 5*.

Rating: 5/5

The Welsh National Opera are currently touring with Eugene Onegin, for more information and tour dates visit www.wno.org.uk.

For other shows at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton visit www.mayflower.org.uk.

Mayflower Theatre, Commercial Road, Southampton, SO15 1GE | 02380 711811