La Boheme

Maybe it’s just the election fever currently sweeping the country, but it seems quite credible to read Scottish Opera’s most recent double bill as a rather progressive political statement. After last week's Mr Broucek, with its sustained comedic attack on the wealthy and propertied classes, we now get to see the tragic reality of an unjust society in Puccini’s unquestionably beautiful La Boheme.

Politics aside, this is probably going to be one of the most wonderful theatre experiences you’re going to have, and Scottish Opera do it justice throughout. From the rough and joyful opening bars to the battered depths of unexplainable human anguish, the opera splashes unmitigated emotion throughout in a vibrant mosaic of unrivalled melody and well-managed orchestral textures. The plot was modernised in a sensitive and respectful way, but even so it led to audible grumblings from the opera purists around the theatre. But it makes complete sense: La Boheme was written in the style of Verdi’s experiments in what we now call verismo, which originally shocked spectators who were horrified at seeing art sullied by its representation of modernity. Presumably people are still shocked, which means it’s still working. The problems in the opera translate perfectly to modern ways of life, and so there is little difficulty in the transition.

The update also allowed the production to add a number of a nice asides on the texts themes of representation: the tension between our awful reality and the aesthetic dreams we create to redeem ourselves. Instead of the real thing, Rodolfo buys Mimi a postcard depicting a hat, and in the final scene Colline’s ‘vecchia zimarra’ is instead a poster with a coat on it. Throughout La Boheme we repeatedly see the ugliness of life interrupt and overcome the artists levees of music, literature and poetry, and this device highlighted the desperate need to make up for illness and poverty by living in another, better, self-created world. The cast were all excellent in their various roles, but Celine Byrne shone in her Scottish Opera debut as the terminally ill Mimi. Nadine Livingston’s Musetta also deserves a mention, moving between the pathos and unbridled hedonism required of the role with a distinct and delicate ease.