I PURITANI is Now Playing at Opera Bastille

In 17th-century England, just after the beheading of Charles I, the supporters of the republican Cromwell – the Puritans – are rejoicing at Elvira’s forthcoming marriage to Arturo, despite the fact that he is a royalist. But when the young Cavalier discovers the identity of the prisoner guarded by the Puritans, everything is turned upside down…

In his last opera, blending melancholy with fiery lyricism, Bellini delivers one of his loveliest female portraits in Elvira, who progresses from adolescent gaiety to madness before finally achieving happiness.

It is precisely through her eyes that Laurent Pelly approaches I Puritani. Locked in a sharp-edged castle-prison, Elvira draws us into the projections of her mental space: a warlike, masculine world where she struggles to live out her desires.