Bizet: Carmen
Royal Opera, 24th June 2019
Barrie Kosky’s Carmen is back, so grab the pedometer. “Who needs cardio classes?” tweeted the Royal Opera Chorus wryly after Saturday’s matinee. Kosky strips almost all sense of Spain from the setting and presents us instead with a steep staircase on which nearly all the action – up, down, across, up again – takes place. A head for heights and hamstrings of steel are prerequisites. This is Carmen as cabaret, as vaudeville. It splits audiences and critics but by now anyone after a ticket knows that, apart from a few colourful matador costumes, they’re not getting picture postcard Seville.
Jacquelyn Stucker (Frasquita), Anaïk Morel (Carmen), Hongni Wu (Mercédès) and dancers
© ROH | Bill Cooper
Click here to read the full review on Bachtrack.