Anna Burnside reviews ‘a sumptuous production, rich in visual references, creepy and weird yet staying just on the right side of shlocky’.
Under the gappy roof of a decaying theatre, a grand party gathers for a wedding that never quite happens. Princess Turandot will only marry when a suitor answers three riddles correctly. Get it wrong and they are put to death.
So far, so unlucky. Act one ends with the grotesque guests baying - to a swelling orchestration - for blood.
Puccini wrote Turandot in the 1920s, with the shadow of fascism hanging over Europe. Under David McVicar’s direction, this Scottish Opera production exposes both the cruelty of the Chinese emperor and the decadence of a regime in its death agony.
It’s not much of a leap to a current ruler, cruel and capricious, who has partly demolished and regilded his own residence and had to be talked out of livestreaming an execution.
McVicar has also chosen to present the full version of Turandot, finished by Franco Alfano after Puccini’s death in 1924. This softens the ending in which the princess, having vowed not to marry, changes her mind.
It’s a high-stakes performance in every way. McVicar set the bar high with his triumphant 2023 Il trittico, also for Scottish Opera. Turandot reunites the same creative team, to huge effect.
It sounds delicious. American tenor Victor Starsky is a powerful Calaf while Trine Moller brings light and shade to Turandot, who is often played as a relentless ice maiden. Hye-Youn Lee is moving as the self-sacrificing handmaiden Liu.
Under Stuart Stratford, the orchestra swirls and swoops through the lush score. Turandot was influential in the scoring of early movies and here the set, with its stage within a stage, underlines the flourishes that our 21st century ears recognise as cinematic.
This is a sumptuous production, rich in visual references, creepy and weird yet staying just on the right side of shlocky. McVicar has truly created a Turandot for our times.
Turandot performs at Theatre Royal Glasgow on alternative days until 7 November 2026. It then performs at Festival Theatre Edinburgh. For further information including dates and times, go to Scottish Opera’s website.
Photo by Mihaela Bodlovic.
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