La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi The Coliseum, London WC2. 4**** Clare Colvin.

La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi The Coliseum, London WC2.

4**** Clare Colvin.

‘ENO’s gripping La Traviata is up to speed.’

Following the recent resignation of music director Martyn Brabbins in protest at the cuts to the English National Opera’s orchestra as being essentially a “managed decline”, it’s encouraging to witness the fighting comeback from crisis-ridden ENO in the welcome revival of Peter Konwitschny’s 2013 production of La Traviata.

Staged this time by opera director Ruth Knight, the packed evening of one hour, fifty minutes with no interval gives what occasionally seems like an express version of Verdi’s supreme tragedy, played out on the bare stage against a decreasing number of crimson curtains and one frequently moved chair. The first act opens to a gaggle of louche party-goers, clad mainly in black, tumbling through the curtains for a champagne celebration with leading Paris courtesan Violetta Valery.

Violetta herself, beautifully sung by American soprano Nicole Chevalier, has a 1920s Louise Brooks-style bob and wears a 1950s-style vermillion cocktail frock. Her lover Alfredo Germont, finely sung by Argentinian tenor Jose Simerilla Romero in his ENO debut, having performed the role internationally, wears a geeky wool cardi and specs. There’s a hint that their romantic love is threatened from the start as being too rarified for their corrupt demimonde circle, and they are subjected to mockery.

The role of Alfredo’s formidable father Giorgio is open to wide interpretation. British baritone Roland Wood’s Germont pere is in richly burnished voice, though bully boy manners. Turning up at the country house where the lovers are secluded, the old chauvinist manages to be offensive even when acknowledging the sacrifice Violetta has made in giving up her claim on Alfredo. At this point, Konwitschny introduces the directorial concept of bringing on in a non-speaking role Alfredo’s kid sister, whose betrothal will be cancelled and life blighted if Alfredo continues his liaison with a prostitute.

The director has explained that the daughter, sensitively played by Summah Chandi on the first night, is there to provide a reason for Violetta to so easily agree to renounce Alfredo - as a gesture of female solidarity. This despite the fact that the pig-tailed schoolgirl looks years too young for matrimony. Among others in the cast, Jonathan Lemalu as Dr Grenvil and Sarah-Jane Lewis as Violetta’s servant Annina stand out as Violetta’s only means of empathy, while ENO Harewood Artist Amy Holyland is a brittle, blonde Flora.

In the pit Richard Farnes conducted with exemplary dramatic pace as ENO’s Orchestra rose to the challenge. The final act, as Alfredo arrives too late to console the dying Violetta, brings a tear to the eye when the last of the crimson curtains falls and she fades into the dark void beyond.

Conductor Richard Farnes

Director Peter Konwitschny

Revival director Ruth Knight

Designer Johannes Leiacker

Lighting designer Joachim Klein

Lighting revived by Mark Rosette

Production pictures Belinda Jiao