Off colour

Big slats of orange, burning yellows, an Adriatic in electric blue: I wish I’d bought my sunglasses to the Royal Opera’s latest revival of Il turco in Italia. Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s production of Rossini’s opera buffo first burst on to the Covent Garden stage in 2005, and its shrieking colours haven’t dimmed with the years. For good or bad, this is one show when you do actually come out whistling the sets (they’re by Christian Fenouillat). I was humming Agostino Cavalca’s costumes too, from gypsy confusion through bouncing fezzes to the absurd glitter of the climactic masked ball. The world created has little to do with Fellini’s black-and-white Dolce Vita, lip-smackingly conjured in the publicity, but it’s hard to shake cultural stereotypes.

Along with colour we get bouncy characterisations, mostly from veterans of the production’s previous outings. Put Sir Thomas Allen’s voice under a microscope and you’d find abrasions and blotches, the general signs of wear and tear.