1 Susannah is the most capable of the four? It was a comment during the interval of the Radio 3 transmission of The Marriage which set me thinking. Hitherto perhaps, I have focused on Figaro. I have been engaged with the struggle between the Count, secure in his wealth and lineage, and Figaro, the orphan who has no fortune other than his wits. In the production at the ROH, I was struck by what I saw as his republican costuming. As I watched Figaro's duels with the Count, perhaps I overlooked what Susannah was doing.

2 Once I began to think about her, I became aware of just how much she determines what goes on. I recalled that it is Susannah, not Figaro, who is aware that the Count wishes to bed her. At the time, remember, Figaro is occupied with measuring the bed. Of course, he rails against the Count in the memorable Si vol ballare. He is ready immediately to take on the Count. But it is Susannah who has alerted him to the danger.

2.1 Think of the goings-on in Act 2, the wonderful Act 2. Susannah, remember, keeps her head. A spectator, unknown either to the Count or to the Countess, she takes her opportunity when she is left alone. She calls Cherubino from the dressing-room, she sends him away, and she takes his place. Then, in company with the Countess, she feeds Figaro with the information he needs to strike down the Count. We focus on Figaro, of course, because he is actively combatting the Count. It is Susannah, though, who feeds Figaro and who, by her confidence, emboldens the Countess also to feed.

2.2 Remember too that it is Figaro who crumbles in Act 4. He allows himself to be so easily mislead. And what does he do? He turns to his mother. Susannah, meanwhile, who operates so effectively in the darkness. Recall the haunting Dove sono as she sings to her lover.

3 Figaro is light on his feet. Figaro, the classless man, is ready to take on the lord. It's just as well though that he has as his ally a woman who is so aware, a woman whose wits are a match for the Dark Lord who would bring her and her lover down.