Edward Hawkins gave us dark mystery, doubling as both David and Mr Tarpolski

BachTrack (October 2025)

Rachael Lloyd and Edward Hawkins share a powerful bond as parents Cathy and David, their mutual activities as whistleblowers given greater prominence here than in the book.

Guardian (October 2025)

Edward Hawkins captures the reserved Englishness of the children’s father, David, as well as the quiet desperation of the Russian journalist Mr Tarpolski with a pair of well-nuanced characterisations.

London Unattached (November 2025)

The small cast was uniformly excellent:… and Edward Hawkins a pitch-perfect parody of a certain brand of director.

The Guardian (June 2025)

The four singers –… and Edward Hawkins as the director Gregor – project Boyd’s rather conversational text with clarity, and while Matthews’s vocal writing may not provide sharp delineation between the characters, it is beautifully crafted to allow the words to project.

Telegraph (June 2025)

…gorgeously sung by Edward Hawkins.

Times (June 2025)

Hewer has fun with the framing narrative, giving us some gloriously hammy ‘staging’ from director Gregor (the excellent Edward Hawkins), mines some well-observed humour from the pianist (Gary Matthewman) and finds a new and unexpected emotional gear for the ending.

Gramophone (June 2025)

There is excellent support from Hannah Sandison as Spring Beauty, Edward Hawkins as Grandfather Frost and Bermyata

Music OMH (October 2024)

Holmes is a figure both of dignity and of unconventionality (resorting to cocaine when bored) in Ed Hawkins’ portrayal and enjoys fooling Watson and Inspector Athelney Jones with his all too convincing disguise as an old mariner.

The Reviews Hub (August 2024)

… was robustly sung, with excellent diction, as was Edward Hawkins’ Geronte

Opera (March 2024)

Edward Hawkins always had a lovely twinkle in his eye as Alidoro, a relatively small but important role and here Hawkins brought out a strong character and stage presence.

Planet Hugill (October 2023)

Edward Hawkins was an authoritative Alidoro and enjoyed his more expansive moments.

Opera Today (October 2023)

Bass Edward Hawkins, towering over the rest of the cast, was an appealingly awkward Lord Sidney, giving a surprisingly lyrical “Invan strappar dal core”, the lower voice secure and resonant.

BachTrack (March 2023)

Bass Edward Hawkins hits the heights – literally (he’s a head and shoulders taller than the rest of the cast) and musico-theatrically, as the lovelorn Lord Sidney, singing with focused resonance and foppish self-parody.

Opera Today (March 2023)

A fun scene shows the guests from different countries revealing their national characteristics as they sing their various anthems: Edward Hawkins is particularly good value as tongue-tied Englishman Lord Sidney, who knows only one tune, which is inevitably God Save the King.

The Stage (March 2023)

For the most part, however, both the direction and performances pitch things exactly right. Thus, the English Colonel Lord Sidney’s aria ‘Invan strappar dal core’ at the start of Act II, in which he yearns for Corinna, benefits from the superb Edward Hawkins playing it totally straight. It is to his credit that he does not throw his arms around in exaggerated gestures, which many performers might have thought was the obvious thing to do in a dramma giocoso.

Music OMH (March 2023)

Edward Hawkins is charmingly awkward and shy

The Opera Critic (April 2023)

The smaller roles were well taken. Edward Hawkins returned as a rough-hewn Achilla, singing his two arias with aplomb, and giving the character due complexity. There is something naively trusting about the man, he actually believes Tolomeo, and Hawkins managed to make this believable.

Opera Today (February 2023)

There’s laudable work, too, in the secondary roles of the oily Achilla (Edward Hawkins)

The Stage (February 2023)

Thankfully, Edward Hawkins as Claudio was naive rather than a buffoon. He had a certain nobility as Caesar but also a desperate idiocy which came to the fore in the scene in Poppea’s boudoir. It isn’t a huge role, but Hawkins ensured that Claudio drew our ear and our eye by his simple presence.

Planet Hugill (October 2022)

Edward Hawkins is not quite the buffoon as Claudio, but renders the part with knowing irony, capturing something of his haplessness and naivete.

Classical Source (October 2022)

It is, of all things, the representation of Somnus, god of sleep, by bass Edward Hawkins, that brings the evening to a higher level. His singing is lucidly sonorous, gravely Handelian but with a sharp comic twist, and every word is clear. Aside from the vocal gymnastics, it is this production’s great showstopping moment.

The Irish Times (August 2022)

But the comic turn of the evening (allied to a truly magnificent musical presence) comes from bass Edward Hawkins as the drooping, sleepy Somnus. I just wished he had a teddy bear to complete the picture.

Irish Independent (August 2022)