Dido laments while witches steal the show in Purcell’s one-act hit English opera.

Brisbane City Hall
April 13, 2015

Brisbane Baroque has been doing something interesting. You lure people in with big names – in this case the divine Orchestra of the Antipodes, and the heavenly Sara Macliver and then you team them up with young up-and-coming stars. That’s what’s happened here, with a relative newcomer as Purcell’s Dido (Elizabeth Lewis).

Brisbane City Hall (photo: Darren Thomas)

Of course, Purcell’s most memorable characters are the witches. Led by the deliciously nasty Louise Dorsman, they don’t just steal the show, they hot-wire it, drive it away into a wall and then cackle about the whole thing in the pub afterwards. More about them later.

The plot, as baroque operas go, is pretty straightforward, and very short. To put it slightly tongue in cheek: outright moron Aeneas, a Trojan head-kicker who supposedly later founds Rome, is effortlessly scammed by some witches. It’s the easiest grift ever; a witch just tells him she is a god, issues some orders that will require him to leave Dido’s side and sits back to watch the...