Feb 26th

Puccini's Tosca at The Richmond Theatre

By Sara-Mae Tuson

Tosca image.jpg


Tosca’s Kiss

Tosca at The Richmond Theatre,

 http://www.ambassadortickets.com/789/659/Richmond/Richmond-Theatre/Tosca

 

Korn/Ferry Opera Holland Park’s Tosca feels like an original production –an amazing feat considering how well known this classic piece is. So good is this production that even minor characters are compelling, delivering brushstroke after brushstroke to the final masterpiece. As the unwashed bar man of the neon-lit trattoria leers at Tosca with his pustulant lower lip and lanky jaw, Scarpia toys with her, as he does his food—and the tension builds to devastating effect.

This same barman and Scarpia’s thugs watch with evident enjoyment through the strips of butchery plastic at an unseen room in which Mario (Tosca’s lover) is being beaten. Such was the potency of this excellent support that these thugs (played by Benjamin Segal, Henry Grant Kerswell and Duncan Rock) that they earned some pantomime boos when they took their bows. Wearing Fedora hat’s and smart 60’s suits, they menace and skulk around their leader, the bigotto, Scarpia.

The set locates us with rich detail in 1960s Italy, in a deserted Piazza outside a chapel, the walls papered over with posters and bills for both rebel political parties and Scarpia himself. Tosca’s face adorns the walls as the famous Opera singer: La Voce ‘68. Every detail of this production has been intricately developed. With each stroke Stephen Barlow, director, improves on and reinvents this well-worn story of passion, blackmail and death.

This Italy is corrupt, redolent with intrigue—Scarpia’s Mafioso helping him to ‘sharpen his lust’ even as he maintains a respectable political image. What this production does particularly well (due in no small part to Paul Garrett’s powerhouse performance as Scarpia), is to make it plausible that this charismatic character could command both the respect of the populace and the rebel's hatred. In fact, the contrast with the iconic image on the posters and the scheming villain pacing the stage is far more marked than in productions where he is played as a one dimensional ogre, devoid of such appeal. There is some steaming sexual tension between Scarpia and Floria Tosca as he taunts her with the possibility of Mario’s death, or earlier on, as he manipulates Tosca into betraying Mario through her jealousy. There is a moment in Act 1 where she bursts into tears—having been told by Scarpia that her lover Mario has flitted off to conduct an affair with the Marchesa Attavanti (whose portrait he has painted massively across the Piazza floor). Of course this is a lie, as Mario is really helping Attavanti’s brother Cesare Angelotti (played by Paul Reeves) who is an escaped rebel, to hide from the police. She falls into Scarpia’s arms in despair and he hesitates, frozen. As he slides a lecherous hand down her body the sexual frisson is palpable. This production has a filmic quality and cries out for the big screen. It would be great to see it on at a large cinema chain as with the recent collaboration between Odeon cinemas and Glyndebourne.

This opera’s enduring appeal comes from its flesh and blood characters who are filled with the irrational furies of love—but never before have I seen these qualities exploited so well. Puccini’s fabulous music and the witty dialogue are enlivened by a set of leads who tussle with their roles and pour emotion into a score dripping with the violence of passion.

Seán Ruane as Mario Cavaradossi is excellent—looking rather like a young Van Morrison (circa The Last Waltz) in his flares and bright orange shirt. He sings the famous aria, E lucevan le stele, beautifully. The relationship between him and Tosca is believable and loaded with warmth—the two leads are bravely unrestrained in getting to grips with each other in their scenes together.

Tosca herself, played with exquisite precision by Amanda Echalaz, has a purity of tone roughened only by real emotion during the torture scenes. Act III is heart stopping. It is real agony watching Tosca and Mario sing about the life they will have after going through the ‘farcical’ execution, and knowing that Scarpia never intended her to obtain freedom for Mario. ‘Fall down at once,’ she tells him, to which he jokes, ‘Like Tosca on stage’. Even after the hired thug douses the car with petrol, Tosca believes in her lover’s ability to cheat death. When Tosca emolliates herself, standing atop the car in which her lover Mario has just been shot, the piece has a fittingly iconic end.

Spoil yourself to this production of Tosca—it will put the heart back in you—just as great art should.



Catch it at the Richmond Theatre until March 1. To book call 08700606651, or go to www.ricmondtheatre.net

For more information about the production go to: www.operahollandpark.com
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