Nicola Lisle talks to Ellen Kent about her new productions of some operatic favourites

Ellen Kent never does anything by halves. So when she brings her current repertoire of three operas — Rigoletto, La Traviata and Madama Butterfly — to Oxford next week, you can expect everything to be on a grand scale.

Lavish sets, sumptuous costumes and gorgeous singers are the order of the day, and in Rigoletto there’s even a golden eagle and a couple of greyhounds thrown in for good measure. Oh yes, and — shhh! — naked ladies. Form an orderly queue, please, gents...

Some of this might seem rather bold and even a little controversial, but Ellen likes authenticity, and her productions are about as authentic and traditional as it’s possible to be, while at the same time giving them a unique spin.

“They’re traditional only in that they’re not some weirdo modern interpretation,” she says, in her typically forthright manner. “I like beautiful colours and beautiful sets, and they’re all bespoke. That gives my shows quality and gravitas.”

Ellen freely admits that Rigoletto is her favourite of the three operas. Billed as ‘the masterpiece they tried to ban’ because it exposed the depravity of the court in Renaissance Italy, this is the tragic tale of jester’s daughter Gilda, who loves the charming but licentious Duke of Mantua.

“It’s a really good dramatic piece of Gothic theatre,” says Ellen. “So we’ve got fabulous costumes and a young cast, with very good leads, and the naked ladies give it that authenticity of the decadence, the richness and the madness.

“I love the music, I love the story, I love the whole of it. That’s the one I’ve been in love with.”

None of which means, of course, that the other two productions have been neglected in any way. They are equally sumptuous, with the same faithful recreation of their particular worlds.

La Traviata, the story of the sickly courtesan Violetta, is based on the autobiographical novel La Dame aux Camelias by Alexandre Dumas the younger, and Ellen drew on the book for inspiration when staging the opera. So, just as the novel opens with an auction, so this production starts with an auction going on behind a lace curtain during the overture.

“It just gives me some sort of balance to be able to do that,” Ellen explains. “I put it in to enhance what I’m doing.

“I really go over the top with Traviata — champagne, a huge fountain on the stage, and beautiful Parisian sets that look as if they were painted by the artists in the Impressionists era. And fabulous bespoke ball gowns, with masses of lace and silk encrusted with diamonds and pearls.”

Madama Butterfly is authentically Japanese, including casting mainly girls from Japan or Korea, and once again it is a visual feast. “My Butterfly’s very beautiful. It’s set in a Japanese garden so I have lots of bushes and trees, and a Buddha in the garden, and, of course, beautiful kimonos and very good leads.”

Ellen’s casting is something else that she prides herself on. “I’m always looking for young, talented, good-looking singers, and that puts an extra spin on it as well. I never put in old leads. They’re all in their 30s, and in professional opera that’s quite young. So we have very good-looking girls and handsome boys!”

Rigoletto, La Traviata and Madama Butterfly
New Theatre, Oxford
February 19-21, 7.30pm
Tickets: 0844 871 3020