The Marriage of Figaro - A DARKUS Writer’s Experience At Their First Opera
- Apr 2
- 2 min read
On Thursday 19th March 2026, I attended my first ever opera, which was ‘Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro’ performed by Opera North. And, if I’m honest, I did not think that I would enjoy it, having opera never been an interest of mine, do I have a great appreciation for the talent of opera singers of coarse, but I never thought I would be the type of person who would sit and enjoy an opera but this one I enjoyed a whole lot.
Now, the only opera thing I had seen before this was ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ movie, which is possibly the complete opposite genre of The Marriage of Figaro. The story of the show is set in one day and follows a couple Figaro and Susanna, a steward and assistant of the Count and Countess, who are getting married on this day. Throughout the show we are introduced to many more characters including, Count and Countess Almaviva, Bartolo and Marcellina and finally my favourite character Cherubino, he made me laugh so much, I lost count of the amount of times he had to hide and the amount of people that covered for him on top of that.
That was one thing I enjoyed so much about this opera, that it was comedic, especially since it has the reputation that it’s boring when simply it isn’t. Although, I may not have fully understood what they were saying, with it being Italian, but from their amazing acting and the subtitles (that helped me a great deal), I was able to grasp onto what was going on. In the end I actually really enjoyed myself and would definitely go and see this show again if it ever comes back to Newcastle.
The show starts with a segment that passes across a year, starting with the Count and Countess newly being married, we then watch new relationships sparking over the course of that segment.
We then see that Figaro finds out about a tradition that the Count wants to revive and sets out to outwit him. Following this we also find out that Figaro is in debt to his former housekeeper Marcellini and if he can’t pay he will have to marry her instead. Cherubino then runs in shortly after he has infuriated the Count with his amorous adventures with the countess. And the story follows from there, I don’t want to give too many spoilers away.
The scenery on stage was really simple but great to the eye with the amount of detail that has gone into the design of all the stage props and everything that was visualised on stage, really had an Italian feel. I loved the costume design too, although it was really simplistic but it worked great with the opera.
I would recommend this opera to anyone, especially if they have never seen an opera before it is a great starter for someone who wants to give opera shows a go.
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Article By Katie Davison
I'm so glad you enjoyed your first opera! It's amazing how unexpected experiences can be so rewarding. Speaking of unexpected, have you tried translate image ai It's a fun way to turn photos into cartoons instantly!