Shamless love

English Touring Opera began its autumn tour, as usual, at the Hackney Empire, a place I haven’t been to before, and shall hesitate about going to again, not so much because of the tropical temperature inside as the rigours of getting there and back into the centre of London. It was good to see it so crowded, and to see ETO’s very fine performance of Alcina greeted with such enthusiasm. The company’s repertoire and touring plans are becoming ever more ambitious, and it is indicative, too, of the astonishing growth in appreciation of Handel’s greatness that so demanding a production as this can be taken to Lincoln, Ulverston, even Cambridge.

The opera itself, apart from its somewhat daunting length, is not taxing, but James Conway, ETO’s general director and the director, too, of this production, made it clear in his pre-performance talk that he didn’t want to spare the audience the trouble of thinking, and he was true to his word.