Irresistibly moving

English National Opera’s production of Billy Budd originated in Wales seven years ago, and is also shared with Opera Australia. Neil Armfield is the producer, and the set design is by Brian Thomson. It is an hydraulic platform, which in Cardiff occupied the whole stage, but at the Coliseum leaves a lot of surrounding space unused, and induces less claustrophobia in the audience, though it could well, in its restless heaving, cause motion sickness. It is highly unspecific, so serves, with one or two props, all the purposes it needs to and leaves the creation of atmosphere mainly to the music and the singers, so that is in good hands. Given the extremely high level of the musical performance and the acting, I was somewhat taken aback by the lesser impact that it had than in Cardiff. I think that is perhaps to be put down almost entirely to the intimacy of the Theatre Royal and the big distances of the Coliseum.