By Elissa Poole [Globe and Mail, 30 November 2009]

Vancouver Opera’s production of Bellini’s iconic Norma is as conventional as it could be. Its mist-ridden, craggy peaks in an indigo sky and heavy walls in stone and timber are stock sets for gloomy 19th-century tragedy, and its costumes are vintage opera - dark gowns and cloaks, Roman military gear and Druid’s robes in layered, dishwater linens.