Last Thursday, in a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Royal Opera House, directed by Katie Mitchell, themes such sex, miscarriage, murder, insanity and suicide were greeted with boos from some of the audience.
Booing new productions is nothing new, especially in Italy–where opera is a blood sport as well as an art–but why isn’t considerate acceptable for audiences to demonstrate their feelings?
Yvonne Roberts, journalist at The Guardian, writes,
If a musical, play or opera is intended to make an audience think, then, presumably, members of an audience are entitled to think differently, so why can’t this be articulated?
Given the plethora of productions that have the label “thought-provoking” slapped on them, isn’t it time to return to a little more genuine interaction? Of course, this should show some manners. It is not to be confused with a single individual in the balcony, two sheets to the wind, who heckles through Othello as enthusiastically as a seven-year-old at a production of Jack and the Beanstalk. “Look out, Desdemona! He’s behind you!”
Photograph by Tristram Kenton.