Tobias Cole is one of the great treasures of artistic life in Canberra. A much-loved counter-tenor, conductor and teacher of considerable accomplishment, he has now also become a producer of baroque opera. A year or so ago, he decided to form a company called Handel in the Theatre, its aim being to present Handel’s operas and oratorios in English to contemporary audiences.

I wish I had experienced Cole’s inaugural production last year: The Vow, an adaptation of Handel’s last opera Jeptha (1751). This year, Cole has swung back to Handel’s first ‘opera’ Esther, which began life as a masque (1718), then appeared as an opera (1720) and was revised as a concert oratorio in three acts (1732). Last year’s production seems to have addressed many of the issues I have with this year’s production. By all accounts, it was played quite effectively in contemporary street dress, without props or costumes, and with a small orchestra onstage.

^{David Greco, Janet Todd and Tobias Cole in Esther. Photograph © Hou Leong}

Truth be told, there are really only two ways to present Handel operas. There are the sumptuously extravagant, over-the-top inflations like Barrie Kosky’s...