Review: TOSCA, Royal Opera House

Even with its scenes of torture, sexual extortion, execution and suicide, this thirteenth revival of Jonathan Kent’s take on Tosca digs deep into the romantic story at its heart.

This version has had a storied life at the Royal Opera House. It opened in 2006 with much fanfare, taking over from one by Franco Zefferelli which had been rolled out in Covent Garden for over forty years. One of its fortes is its set: the late Paul Brown developed three very different but equally evocative environments worthy of any of the classic works in scale, detail and power.

This work’s history is possibly its future. After becoming enamoured with Victorien Sardou’s play of the same name, Giacomo Puccini famously slashed it down from five acts to three by disposing of much of the political chit-chat and the subplots. With Arts Council grants shrinking, the cost of living rising and attention spans diminishing, it appears inevitable that older grand works like this one will follow Puccini's lead and may be presented in ever more condensed forms. This was seen last year with Peter Konwitschny’s La Traviata and its mere 105-minute running time; as one wag put it, L’Abbreviata may have been a more suitable title for it.

Caught between her painter love Cavaradossi (a satisfying Marcelo Puente) and envious police chief Scarpia (Gabriele Vivani) against a backdrop of republican plotting, Tosca is forced to make a choice which has tragic consequences. This famous love/lust triangle is informed by revival director Lucy Bradley’s recent work: her re-tooling of Wagner’s The Dutchman with OperaUpClose in 2023 focussed on people-smugglers and immigration and here she looks again at the effect of international politics and cruel men on innocent lives.

In her formal ROH debut, Lithuanian soprano Ausrine Stundyte is a standout in the central role, finding deep resonance in arguably Puccini’s finest heroine. Her soul-baring performance fills the hall with heartfelt pleading and anguish exposing the core of Tosca’s vulnerability. Viviani has played his role before and hams it up marvellously as the lecherous cop trying to get the singer into bed. The Italian baritone knows this role inside out and commands the attention every time he opens his mouth. 

The success of the second act is almost entirely down to the back-and-forth between Stundyte and Viviani with two tortures being played out: an offstage Cavaradossi is suffering down in the dungeon and Tosca is forced to hear his painful cries. All the while, Scarpia twists the knife with his demands for sex and secrets. The emotional force in this grim scene, due in no small part to Stundyte and Viviani’s convincing acting, makes Reservoir Dogs’s infamous ear-cutting episode look like something from Bluey. 

There’s no denying the power of the music and conductor Karen Kamensek (who wielded the baton for the ENO’s phenomenal Akhnaten last year and also makes her ROH debut in this production) pushes the orchestra to great heights to realise the magnificent score. If this is one of the last times we see Kent’s Tosca in this or another format, it has served its place well in this company’s canon.

Tosca continues at the Royal Opera House until 21 July 2024.

Photo credit: Marc Brenner 

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