Carmen, Soho Theatre ***

During the summer, the Royal Opera House and the Coliseum give way to the Ballet leaving little in the way of Opera to be found in London. Luckily, the ambitious OperaUpClose have filled that gap by bringing a new production of the Bizet classic to the Soho theatre. It is a rarity to be able to see the expressions on opera singers faces so sitting only a metre away from them here is a revelation. Therefore, the performers here have, in a sense, a harder job than singers in the opera house in that they have to be able to act. Even the mighty Bryn Terfel appeared shaky in his acting during Sweeney Todd when I was almost a mile away from him. These performers are strong actors and their singing strong, even if it isn't quite as powerful as the great singers at the ENO or ROH. The other slight problem with this setup is that the power and impact of the orchestra is lost when the grand prelude is only played by a pianist, a flautist, a cellist and a violinist making the overall effect seem slightly naff at moments. However, the overall effect of this stripped down performance is to create a piece of theatre that feels more real and gritty than the grandeur of the opera house. Robin Norton-Hale's adaptation turns what could be an overly romantic story glorification of murder into a relevant story of domestic violence that, through a change to the end, is far from the sexy and passionate story of a man killing for love. Flora Mcintosh's Carmen is not the sexy and in control woman that we have come to expect and instead quickly becomes a woman who is abused by Don José, played by Philip Lee at the performance I attended. His José is convincing in yet unsympathetic however there are times when he slips into his falsetto that feels like the melody is too high for him. Of the rest of the cast, there are some stronger singers and weaker singers but overall, the experience is a fantastic alternative to the opera house experience even if it is in no way a replacement for it.