Tosca review – ENO’s new staging abandons Puccini’s realism for baffling and near-constant violence

Coliseum, London Annilese Miskimmon’s new production of Puccini’s complex drama unmoors it from its church and state settings, but there are few gains, only losses in her radical reading. Christopher Purves’ brutish Scarpia, however, is terrific Four years since English National

Coliseum, London Annilese Miskimmon’s new production of Puccini’s complex drama unmoors it from its church and state settings, but there are few gains, only losses in her radical reading. Christopher Purves’ brutish Scarpia, however, is terrific Four years since English National Opera unveiled its previous Tosca (a hyper-stylised affair directed by Christof Loy), the curtain goes up on another new production, this time by ENO’s artistic director Annilese Miskimmon . The appeal of Puccini’s work to any company – never mind one urgently committed to stabilising itself – is clear.

Tosca is one of opera’s most bankable titles and a complex, compact drama about power with endless potential for contemporary “relevance”. It’s also an opera rooted in the specifics of three real locations – at least according to the original text and stage directions. Where other operas’ settings are regularly reimagined, Tosca’s ultra-realism has proved exceptionally immovable.

Miskimmon’s decision to strip Amanda Holden’s translation of all references to particular places and – still more unusual – to set the entire opera in a single space might thus have been a radical creative departure. Continue reading...