Calixto Bieito’s production of Bizet’s Carmen has become a mainstay of English National Opera programming since its first run back in 2012.
No surprise then that it should reappear this year to mark the 150th anniversary of its premiere performance at the Paris Opera-Comique on March 3 1875. Bizet died just three months later from a fever and a coronary attack. He would never know that his new work would go on to become one of the most popular operas of all time, despite its rather poor initial reception.
This fourth revival, directed by Jamie Manton, is bold and brash. The set design, by Alfons Flores, is impressive in its simplicity, opening to a bare smoke-filled stage with just a telephone box and a flagpole. The fluttering flag is a subtle dramatic gesture at key points in the action. Relocated to the desperate last days of Franco’s regime in 1970s Spain, the production seems determined to shock with its depictions of sex and violence but really it just feels cold and uncaring.
Carmen: strident
Irish mezzo-soprano Niamh O’Sullivan is a strident Carmen, all blond curls and bad attitude. She can certainly sing, with rich, warm tones, but her voice doesn’t seem big enough for the vast space of the Coliseum which is, after all, the largest theatre in London.
This is a problem across the board (or across the stage …) with a general lack of projection from the singers exacerbated by the tricky task of making the English words fit the score. There is an overall lack of clarity here and much of the lyrical beauty is literally lost in translation.
Another Irish singer, soprano Ava Dodd, is well cast as Micaela, singing with beautiful pitch and exuding a bright stage presence. Tenor John Findon fills Don José with angry machismo but we don’t really feel his tension. Bass-baritone Cory McGee sings Escamillo with determination but not a lot of emotional depth. And this is the overarching problem – this is all fairly meaningless if we don’t feel an emotional connection with the characters amidst the smoke and thuggery.
As often happens, it’s the big scenes with the chorus that really stand out and here they do make the most of the vast stage. The scenes with the battered cars on stage work really well. And there’s a cute little scene full urchins, played with enthusiasm by 22 children from South Kensington’s Marlborough Primary School.
Carmen: Conductor Clelia Cafiero
Conductor Clelia Cafiero set a vivacious pace with the delightful overture and brought out the colours in the score thoughout. There were one or two musically wobbly moments but that might have just been the pressure of opening night.
Nevertheless, the warm applause at the end was well-deserved. Cafiero will hand over the baton to another young female conductor, Olivia Clarke, for the performances from October 25.
Few operas have inhabited our cultural consciousness as much as Carmen. People who have never seen the opera can happily hum along to Carmen’s ‘Love is a rebellious bird that no one can tame …’ Habanera aria or Escamillo’s perky Toreador Song. It’s a real shame that this production undermines Carmen’s deep emotionality and loses much of its beauty with its awkward English translation.
Carmen is at the London Coliseum to 5 November 2025.
