Giustino review – sublime, and ridiculous, Handel rarity returns to Covent Garden

Linbury theatre, Royal Opera House, LondonJoe Hill-Gibbins’ scaled-down staging is sensitive, and the music beautifully played and sung, but this is an uneven work dramaticallyPremiered at Covent Garden in 1737, but not performed there again until now, Giustino is the latest of Handel’s “London” operas to earn a modern Royal Opera revival. It tells the story of a sixth-century peasant-born soldier who brings order to the Byzantine empire of which he is eventually crowned ruler.The piece offers narrative challenges for the director, some of which Joe Hill-Gibbins and his colleagues overcome with sensitive simplicity, scaling down the scene changes in favour of a largely bare, ochre-painted stage, across which lamps oscillate gently and mesmerisingly. Other moments, including Giustino’s encounters with a bear and a sea monster, feel more arbitrary and just a bit daft. For all that it contains fine scenes, you can see why Handel did not revive it. Continue reading...

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