Carmen – Bizet – English National Opera

Carmen – Bizet – English National Opera

David Buchler
English National Opera

Calixto Bieito, the Director of this production, first seen in 2012, brings his own personal interpretation of an unyielding Carmen in the midst of early 1970’s Franco-type testosterone-filled masculinity.  No quarter is given.  The male soldiers are at the same time playful boys and violent nasty male caricatures.  The misogynistic treatment of women stands out in this stripped back production, but the gratuitous violence that simmers throughout the evening is at times unedifying and disturbing. 

Cosi fan tutte – Mozart – Nice Opera France

Cosi fan tutte – Mozart – Nice Opera France

David Buchler

I would like to think that the seat I occupied at the Nice Opera was once sat on by Napoleon the III himself.  The original 1776 wooden theatre was rebuilt in 1826 and Napoleon the III was known to have been a visitor, particularly when Johann Strauss led the orchestra during the 1860’s.  However, it is very unlikely that a ‘higher’ derriere than mine sat in my seat as that theatre was burnt to the ground during a performance of Donizetti’s Lucia de Lammermoor in 1881 – perhaps Lucia did get her revenge after all – and a new theatre was born in 1885. 

La Boheme – Puccini – Royal Opera House

La Boheme – Puccini – Royal Opera House

David Buchler
Royal Opera House

The intimacy of Richard Jones’s production of La Boheme is well conceived.  However, the rooftop apartment shared by the writers and artists is rather lacking in 19th century Marseilles style.  It has clean lines and beautiful fresh pinewood sets.  There is no hint of atmospheric old town accommodation and even the ladder through the sky roof, constantly open to the elements, does not really make sense, nor does the smoke from the chimney when there is no working fireplace.