Buddug Verona James in CastradivaCastradiva

SYNOPSIS:

Heavenly voices. Devilish behaviour.

Rome, 1700, and the Pope has banned women from performing on the stage. Young boys are, instead, sold to the church for their beautiful voices - and castrated to keep them. With voices allowing them to take both female and the male roles, often brilliantly, the castrati became adored like today's pop stars; and discovered they had been given the perfect disguise to slip into a lady's boudoir! Cross-dressing and bed-hopping became the order of the day.

The virtuosic Eisteddfod-winner Buddug Verona James plays all the characters in an aria-studded drama, weaving a tale of the juiciest moments from the aftermath of Pope Innocent XI's edict against performing women around the life of a castrato and his circle. Ranging from love to murder, subterfuge to stupidity, the piece delves gleefully into this fascinating period in sumptuous Settecento finery.

The music is provided live on authentic instruments, and Buddug takes on seven arias by Handel and Gluck in the hour (a usual opera lead only asks for three), in both sexes' voices. This is not only an Olympian feat of range, however; her feel and passion for the music were described simply as "wonderfully expressive singing" in the Sunday Times and "luscious, suave and creamy" in the New York Times.

Buddug is a highly skilled butcher and has won several awards for her meat manipulation.


Top of pageReviews:

"A real show-stopper" (The Guardian)

"The tremendous Buddug Verona James' singing is ravishing - every demand of the music met with dazzling command; the tone gloriously sustained..." (Financial Times)

"This is real entertainment... The music is made accessible through her portrayals of six characters, including the Pope, that are full of slapstick and visual humour, laced with a witty, comic and intelligent script." (Western Mail)

"A saucy little tale of the sex life of Roman society... a magnificent voice with an androgynous tone... boredom is simply not an option." (The Irish Times)

"The arias are a glory... This imaginative piece of mischief is a quirky delight, great fun dramatically and exquisite musically." (The Sunday Independent)

"a performance of seething intensity, her vocal gymnastics setting Handel's arias aflame." (The Herald)

"James is simply magnificent in this bizarre tale. She meets the demanding music with total assurance, creamy as cappuccino, each note architecturally flawless." (The Daily Post)

"luscious, suave and creamy, the splendid Buddug Verona James sounds like a Brancusi" (Paul Griffiths)

"The most convincing travesty role I have ever seen" (Daily News, Portugal)

"a unique and brilliant piece of theatre. Castradiva, devised and written by Buddug Verona James and Mark Ryan - a collaboration which has produced one of the wittiest and original one-woman shows on the stage today. Set in the hot-house environment of Roman society of the 18th century with scheming clerics, amoral high society. Pedrolino, the magnificent castrato singer, tells the tale of how he outwitted the Pope and saved the day for his mistress the Contessa... Buddug maintained this brilliant theatrical illusion of a woman playing the part of a man who in turn plays the part of a woman and then back to a woman playing the part of a man and then ad infinitum as though through a series of mirrors, with a surety and effortlessness that belied sheer stamina needed to hold the stage on her own. But, there was more. Pedrolino as he narrates the lascivious, bawdy tale with beautifully timed throw-away lines and gestures and slight changes of facial muscles - which engendered instantly a new character (the only props being half-faced Commedia masks)- now and then breaks off to show that he can really sing." (The Tivyside)

"In Castradiva, a crossover opera-theatre show about cross-dressing, mezzo-soprano Buddug Verona James is winning and impressive as she alternates between acting six commedia dell'arte characters and singing numerous Gluck and Handel arias accompanied by live harpsichord, violin and viola da gamba." (Sunday Tribune)

"a glorious gem of an evening with a touring Welsh production of 'Castradiva'. This was a one-woman show telling of the story of the greatest of the castrati. There was a whiff of the forbidden about them and Buddug captured the oddity, the comedy, the sleaze and the travesty of these singers. She was camp when she needed to be camp and she had tears in her eyes when needed. Her performance entranced the audience and her clear vocal tone soared and trilled to the angelic music of Handel and Gluck. She entertained the audience with the vigour and virtuosity of her performance... In quick succession we got the masculine swagger and braggadocio, the female guile and girlishness, the crude cleric and a belly laughing Pontiff as well as dazzling singing." (The Munster Times)

"With the help of a chaise-longue, a table and curtain, this overheated world of intrigue was re-created in words and music by this talented singing actress and peopled with no fewer than six different characters. For Buddug Verona James not only brought to life the egregious Pedrolino, but using a series of masks she sketched in his rivals, the tenor Silvio and the young castrato Ortensio, his employer the Contessa, the Pope, whose authority extended to the Roman musical world, and the Pope's detective, who enforced the church's ban on the employment of female singers... Handsomely costumed in purple silk lavishly overlaid with gold brocade, she cut a swaggering extrovert figure, no doubt on the lines of the image cultivated by the castrati in their day. The stylish accompaniment was provided by Lucy Robinson on Bass Viol, Marianna Szucs on Baroque Violin and Harpsichordist Andrew Wilson-Dickson, the Music Director, all three dressed in period Costumes and helping to set the scene." (Musical Opinion)

"Bronze-toned in voice and brazen in manner, the truly remarkable Buddug Verona James swept all before her in Castradiva... Mezzo-soprano Buddug Verona James throws herself into this role with enormous gusto and, beautifully dressed and bewigged, dominates the stage for much of the performance. ... The voice itself is quite magnificent - rich, powerful, creamy and full-toned across a most impressive range. No wonder Buddug Verona James has drawn such praise from the critics, and has played so many different parts in a highly varied and successful career." (K&S Courier)

"Buddug Verona James... has a voice that sets Handel's music alight with the acrobatics of her singing." (The Press and Journal)


Fan Mail:

  • "Great entertainment at the Gower Festival"
  • "Loved Castradiva last night... simply great"
  • "I had to write to say how much I enjoyed it. Great voice - Great music - Great performance!"
  • "Rarely have we enjoyed such a combination of singing and acting... A delightful evening!"
  • "I just wanted to tell you how very much I enjoyed Castradiva... it's so cleverly written and you perform so compellingly - absolutely brilliant entertainment"
  • "I hope you are getting packed houses everywhere - you deserve it."


Top of pageProgramme Notes

Castrato, or literally one who has been gelded, in musical circles describes a male singer who has been castrated before puberty in order to preserve the soprano or contralto range of his voice; between 1600 - 1800 the term 'musico' usually referred to a castrato.

Although frequently and in many cultures men have been castrated for various purposes, the immediate origins of the practice of preserving prepubescent boy's voices by this means, first noted in the 16th century are not entirely apparent. A description of a male soprano who may have been a eunuch appears in Luigi Dentice's Duo dialoghi della musica (Naples 1552). Castrati were reported in Spain about 1550, and references to their presence in the Rome Sistine Chapel Choir were found from about 1565.

The earliest castrati known individually were Jacomo Spagnoletto (probably a Spaniard) and one Martino, both of whom were admitted to the Sistine Choir in 1588. By 1640 castrati were used throughout Italy; despite much theological debate, the musical needs of the church always prevailed over the anti-mutilation faction.

Castrati figured in the history of opera from its beginnings; Peri's Euridice (1600), Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607) and Vitali's Aretusa (1620) all included eunuchs within the dramatis personae. In the papal states, from the papacy of Sixtus V, a ban on the appearance of women in the theatre was enforced with varied ruthlessness.The castrati often behaved as prima donnas, usually commanding huge salaries despite wide reputations as appalling actors.

The last known castrato was Alessandro Moreschi (1858-1922). Castrati were formally banned from the papal chapel by Pius X in 1903.

(Stephen Coles)

Some interesting facts:Top of page

  • At their peak there were 4000 boys between the age of 7 and 9 castrated per year
  • The young castrati would be dressed as cherubs to accompany a funeral
  • All castrati came from poor families - except for Farinelli
  • They would have one day a week solely allocated to improvisation.
  • Senesino was paid £3000 guineas for a Season in London
  • All the counter tenors/falsettists were replaced by castrati in the Sistine Choir - as they could sing higher and louder
  • The castrati loathed their parents for allowing the operation.


The arias:Top of page

Dopo Notte from Ariodante by Handel (Sung originally by Carestini (c.1705-1758))
After night, black and deadly, the sun shines more delightfully in the sky and fills the earth with joy. While dreadful tempest my ship is almost drowned, it reaches harbour, and drops anchor on the shore.

Cara sposa from Rinaldo by Handel (Sung originally by Nicolini (1673 - 1732))
Dear bride, mistress beloved, where are you? Come back to my tears. On the altar of your Kindom of Death, with the fire of my disdain, I defy you,guilty Spirits!

Piangete from la Resurrezione by Handel (Sung originally by Senesino (d.1759))
Weep, oh weep, my sorrowful eyes, and pay a tribute of suffering with bitter tears, to my dear Lord. Weep, that while He gave all His blood on the cross, his only words when dying in tears were, "I'm thirsty...." Weep, oh weep.

Sento la gioia from Amadigi by Handel (Sung originally by Nicolini)
I feel the joy that shines in my heart, and the star of the God of Love is already gleaming in the sky. I'll be happy with you, my beautiful, and a friendly destiny is promising contentment in my heart.

Pena tirana from Amadigi by Handel (Sung originally by Diana Varco and then by Bernacchi (1685-1756))
I feel a tyrannical pain in my heart, and even don't hope to find mercy: Love makes me pant, and in such troubles my pain cannot have peace.

Ho un non so che nel cor from La Resurrezione/Agrippina/Il Pastor Fido by Handel (Sung originally by Margherita Durastanti (fl.1700-1734), but after the first performance Pope Clement XI objected to having a female perfoming in public and she was replaced by castrato Pippo della Regina.)

Addio miei sospiri from Orfeo by Gluck (Sung originally by Guadagni (c.1735-1792))
Goodbye my sighs, my desires have hope. For her, I'll suffer everything. I'll defy every pain. I'll win the sons of Orco, I'll beat them all, my desires have hope.


Click here for a link to another Castrato - from Peter Jones' column in the Spectator

Castradiva
biographies

Download Lizzie Wort HeadshotBuddug Verona James

Buddug Verona James was born in Cardigan, West Wales. Before pursuing her studies, she worked in one of her father's butcher shops in Cardigan, winning an award for her artistry in meat manipulation in the Royal Welsh Show.
She studied at the Guildhall, National Opera Studio and Rome. Among her 40 operatic roles Buddug has performed Gluck's Orfeo in America and Canada, Handel's Amadigi in New York and Europe, and Mozart's Marriage of Figaro in Tokyo and Toronto conducted by Andrew Parrott. She has worked with Netherlands Opera, Cleveland Opera, Glyndebourne, Almeida Opera, Opera Theatre Company, Opera Northern Ireland, Opera North, Opera Atelier, Operavox Cartoons, Siobhan Davies Dance Company and, never forgetting her roots, Music Theatre Wales and Mid Wales Opera. She has premiered in operas by Gerald Barry, Jonathan Dove, Deirdre Gribbin, Wolfgang Rihm and John Woolrich.
She has filmed numerous straight acting roles for BBC, HTV and S4C. Buddug teaches at the Welsh College of Music and Drama. Buddug has performed with her two sisters and brother in Celtic Sights and Sounds, Sisters in Harlem, The Family by Mark Ryan, and at the Millennium Stadium before the Wales-Ireland match 2001. They have recently released The James Sisters Sing Gospel. S4C have commissioned a documentary on the James Family to be broadcast this Christmas

Mark Ryan (writer)
Mark Ryan was born in Limerick. He has written several adaptations for Snap Theatre which have toured internationally; Tom Jones, Far From The Madding Crowd, Funnybones, Pinocchio, Candide and The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Recent work includes Perspective for Made in Wales, The Lazy Ant for Spectacle Theatre and The Family for Opera Cocktail/Theatr Mwldan

Andrew Wilson-Dickson (musical director/harpsichordist)
Andrew Wilson-Dickson has been busking since the age of 7. A formal education in classical music (a pupil of John Lill, Cambridge and York Universities) has not narrowed his interests, which also include jazz, World and Church music - he has written a book on the latter. He is Head of Early Music at The Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. His compositions have been played by many contemporary artists and ensembles such as Peter Lawson, Susanne Stanzeleit, Lontano and the Medici String Quartet.

Chris Morgan (director)
Chris Morgan is the artistic director of Theatr y Byd. He is also the associate director of Hijinx Theatre in Cardiff. Last Autumn he directed Inside Out - a portrait of Ivor Novello for Theatr y Byd. He directed Letitia Dean and Matthew Cottle in Rattle of a Simple Man for the Redgrave Theatre, Farnham, which also toured nationally. For Equinox Theatre he directed Shakespeare's Doublets, which he also devised. He has also taught and directed at the Welsh College of Music and Drama.