Bizet: La Tragédie de Carmen **
Royal Opera, Wilton’s Music Hall, 4th November 2017
The distressed walls of Wilton’s Music Hall, in London’s East End, are not dissimilar to the interior of Les Bouffes du Nord, the Parisian theatre where, in 1981, Peter Brook presented his distillation of Bizet’s Carmen – a compact 80-minute drama under the title La Tragédie de Carmen. Paring the action down to just four singers, it’s the perfect vehicle and venue for a handful of the Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Young Artists to strut their stuff, directed by former JPYA Gerard Jones. Alas, rather than La Tragédie, Jones too often seems intent on directing La Comédie de Carmen instead.
Aigul Akhmetshina (Carmen)
© Clive Barda
Read the full review on Bachtrack.