“It is the opinion of this reviewer that “concept” productions don’t usually work, but Handel seems to need something to help us through all those da capo arias, and James Hurley’s imaginative production of Semele at the Gatehouse lays bare all the emotional content and adds some extra touches... The 1950’s setting for the Cadmus, Semele, Ino family suggested an era of sexual repression, making the cavorting in Arcadia all the more shocking or liberating, depending on your point of view.”



“James Hurley’s production, necessarily played out on a single set, deals ingeniously with the im/mortal divide. Jupiter’s household kick their heels around a central dais, which, during the overture, they actively reveal to be a suburban living room. Semele’s petitioning of Jupiter to save her from an arranged marriage and his intervention happen in this space with the characterisations played bold, as if revisiting Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party or a Pinter drama.”