Christopher Alden has directed Tosca as a non-traditional production which ‘clears away the cobwebs of tradition and sentiment that have formed around this familiar piece, and exposed the brutal heart of its dystopian vision’.
His process begins in grimy reality and progresses to a cumulative spectacle of life–destroying malice sustained by the full-blooded energy of Puccini’s score.
A story of two lovers, the painter Mario Cavaradossi and the singer Floria Tosca, caught in a web of political cruelty controlled by the ruthless Baron Scarpia. Scarpia is overcome with jealous desire for Tosca and threatens to torture Cavaradossi into disclosing the whereabouts of Angelotti, an escaped revolutionary and friend. When Scarpia attacks Tosca, she kills him. Tosca, thinking she has escaped her tormentor, dreams of liberty and freedom with Cavaradossi; however he has been shot by Spoletta, one of Scarpia’s henchmen.
Set in a dingy church basement this production of
Tosca serves to emphasise man’s inhumanity to man.
This Opera Australia production is presented by arrangement with that company.
Sung in Italian with English surtitles.
Wesfarmers Arts Synopsis, Cast List & Director's Notes
Notes from Tosca: Introduction to Opera Talk