Richard Bratby

Had the air of a Blue Peter Christmas special: Grange Festival’s The Yeomen of the Guard reviewed

Plus: Garsington's Rusalka is as good as opera gets

The chorus of Grange Festival with Heather Shipp as Dame Carruthers in The Yeomen of the Guard. Credit: Simon Annand
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  • The Yeomen of the Guard

    The Grange Festival, until 8 July

  • Rusalka

    Garsington Opera, until 19 July, then Edinburgh International Festival, 6-9 August

The Yeomen of the Guard has been called the ‘English Meistersinger’ but the more you think about that, the dafter it gets.

It’s not just the very obvious difference in scale and means between Wagner’s five-hour national epic and Gilbert and Sullivan’s sprightly opéra comique. Wagner’s whole drama builds to a collective affirmation of German art.

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