Royal Opera House Revives Richard Jones's Vivid Staging of Handel's Alcina

The Royal Opera House in London has revived a 2022 production of George Frideric Handel's opera Alcina, directed by Richard Jones with set and costume design by Antony McDonald, according to a review published by The Guardian.

The revival, staged by Sarah Fahie, the original movement director, retains most of the cast from the production's first run, the review noted. Soprano Lisette Oropesa reprises her role as the sorceress Alcina, described in the review as "imperious and gleaming."

According to the review, Jones's interpretation frames the opera's storyline—set on an enchanted island where sorcery and sensuality intertwine—as a tension between two worlds. The production casts the opera's virtuous characters as members of a puritanical cult, sharpening the contrast with Alcina's sensual, instinct-driven realm into what the review called "a tug of war" rather than a subtler pull.

The staging includes prisoners transformed by Alcina into animals—among them a parrot, a mandrill and a King Charles spaniel—wearing prosthetic heads that the review said had previously been displayed in cases in the Royal Opera House foyer. These animal characters remain active throughout the performance, attending to Alcina and moving set pieces including a large bed, a greenhouse and an enchanted forest, all mounted on wheeled platforms revealed behind doors resembling a hotel corridor.

The review described the stage as wide and often populated by performers in motion, with at least one singer frequently running across it. It noted that amid the production's visual busyness, quieter moments of emotional depth and introspection in Handel's score risk being overshadowed. The review characterized the overall production as "brittle, but entertaining."