Gaetano Donizetti composed Deux hommes et une femme, a one-act comic opera, in 1841 but it was never performed in his lifetime. The première took place in Paris, 12 years after his death in 1848.
The opera was renamed Rita ou Le mari battu. The setting is an inn, on the road from Genoa to Turin, run by Rita (Laura Lolita Peresivana) who bullies and beats her timid husband Beppe, (Brenton Spiteri) who is scared stiff of her.
Out of the blue, Gasparo (Phil Wilcox), her first husband, whom she believed had drowned, turns up, having been in Canada all the while. He had thought Rita had died in a fire and wants her death certificate so he can marry a Canadian. Finding her alive, he wants to destroy their marriage certificate.
Beppe and Gasparo decide to play a game in which the winner gets Rita to be his wife. Both men play to lose. The comic opera, which lasts just over an hour, ends in a totally unbelievable reconciliation between Rita and Beppe. It is definitely not the happy ending, Beppe who is, vocally, so cock-a-hoop to be free of his wife at long last, would want.
The opera, sung in English, is trivial, light-hearted and fun. The domestic violence and bigamy are played for farce and not to be taken seriously for one moment; but that does not mean the happy ending does not jar.
Donizetti sparkles. There are eight musical numbers with spoken dialogue in between. The three singers, Peresivana, Spiteri, Wilcox, engage. On stage, behind gauze and behind a painting of Tuscany, Mark Austin conducts the Faust Chamber Orchestra.
Alejandro Bonatto directs, orchestrates and translates. The production, which puts three mobile doors to inventive use, is very enjoyable. Hopefully, Charing Cross Theatre Productions will stage more neglected one-act operas.
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