Review: Live music - Two Short Operas on Love and Lies, Kilkenny Arts Festival

A fuming husband, a wife with a guilty secret and a jilted lover on the verge of a nervous breakdown are the main protagonists in a pair of short operas on the theme of love and lies presented by Opera Theatre Company at the Watergate Theatre during Kilkenny Arts Festival.

Wolf Ferrari’s frothy late Romantic comedy, Susanna’s Secret, stood out as one of the more light-hearted offerings on this year’s festival programme with an emphasis on the titanic music of JS Bach and English Renaissance composers.

The plot of the early 20th century work is based on a marital misunderstanding. Gil sniffs the smoke in the air and suspects his wife of having an affair.