After a turbulent summer marked by institutional setbacks, the Royal Ballet and Opera’s new season began under the shadow of protest. Outside Covent Garden, demonstrators with loudspeakers chanted “shame on you”, while others held placards declaring “art is not neutral”, waving Ukrainian flags. The casting of Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, who has faced ongoing controversy over her perceived links to the Kremlin, made the opening of Oliver Mears’ new production of Puccini’s Tosca a politically charged occasion. One attendee remarked that entering the theatre “felt like crossing a picket line”.
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Inside, however, the atmosphere told a different story. Modern soundproofing muted the noise, and by the first interval the protesters had gone. In contrast to the tension outside, the auditorium responded with enthusiasm, erupting into cheers after the opera’s most famous arias. The performance marked the first collaboration between Mears, the company’s director of opera, and new music director Jakub Hrůša. It was also the Royal Opera’s first new staging of Tosca in nearly two decades.
Mears set the production in a war-torn 20th-century Rome, designed with stark imagery: marble walls and rubble in the chapel, a cavernous palace dominated by a looming clock, and a torture chamber tiled in white but stained with traces of brutality. Scarpia appeared less as a traditional nobleman than as a ruthless corporate figure in a 1970s suit, surrounded by modern surveillance equipment and enforcers. Against this grim backdrop, Tosca embodied a rare flash of glamour, her presence underscored by the vivid streaks of blood that marked Acts II and III.
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The performances matched the bold staging. Freddie de Tommaso brought unrelenting power as Cavaradossi, while Netrebko’s Tosca, though uneven in tone, carried greatest impact in moments of anguish. Gerald Finley delivered a chillingly persuasive Scarpia, combining vocal allure with a menacing presence. From the pit, Hrůša shaped the music with authority, balancing intensity and lyricism, and drawing from Puccini’s score both beauty and raw dramatic force. The result was a season opener of striking ambition and emotional weight, underscored by controversy but carried by artistry.
