The Adventures of Pinocchio

The Adventures of Pinocchio is an outright triumph in many respects and was without doubt one of the best contemporary stagings of an opera. Armed with only painted wood and delightful innovation, Opera North have created a medley of awe-inspiring stage effects. Giants, waves, forests and the depths of the sea; these made the audience wish that the set-designer had the £16 million budget of Robert LePage's disappointing production for the Met of Wagner's Das Rheingold.

However, the primary force behind the show’s success is composer Jonathon Dove’s exceptional musical imagination. It allows the orchestra to dip and turn through a kaleidoscope of styles, rhythms and orchestral textures. At each novel experience our hero encounters we hear a new sound flung up from a different corner of the pit. One minute Copland, the next Stravinsky: the effect is uncannily successful in conjuring up the perspective of childhood. Dove’s use of the orchestra is not however restricted solely to focus on Pinocchio’s fascination. In performing the twin roles of protagonist and chorus, the score paints the childlike marvelling with many dark, dissonant harmonies which emphasise the opera’s serious moral message.

The musical intelligence is complimented by Alasdair Middleton’s equally smart libretto, which succeeds in drawing out a range of different effects from the fairytale medium. It sets the alarming reality of physical danger - hanging, drowning, depression - alongside moments of uncanny dreamlike terror - four ominous bunnies armed with a smoking coffin - without ever seeming gloomy or deliberately grim.

The music works hand in glove with the rhyming couplets to offer occasional humour and, quite often, moments of striking beauty. It is rare to see an example of composer and librettist working in such close harmony: it is this mutual understanding that allows them to elucidate such a significant meaning from the old tale. Their reimagining of Pinocchio makes it as relevant as ever: it is a potent myth, one of a society full of quick pleasures that can only maim, ruin and destroy until one achieves self-realisation through an understanding of the unique preciousness of their own individuality, as well as that of those they love.