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La Bohème
Cock Tavern

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Linbury Studio

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The Spectator

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Puccini’s La Bohème has oddly become the Christmas opera of choice, broadcast on BBC TV on Christmas afternoon (an especially ludicrous affair), and major opera houses dusting down their elderly versions. I doubt whether any of them will be as involving, indeed thrilling and upsetting, as OperaUpClose’s production at the Cock Tavern Kilburn, originally scheduled to run from early December to 20 January, but now extended by two full months, it is proving so popular. The Cock has seating for only 40, so that is not quite as amazing as it sounds, but given the comparative obscurity of the venue it is still impressive. The producer, Robin Norton-Hale, who also translated the text, adapting it to present-day Kilburn (and allowing herself a fair number of annoying mis-stresses), has several casts, so I can — anyway so far — only report on the one I saw on New Year’s Eve, when it provided the sole operatic fare to be had in London, if not in the UK.

The audience and the performers are a few feet from one another, which is both challenging and immediately creates a big advantage. They are accompanied on a piano, and it took me a whole act to allow for the lack of the tumescence which Puccini’s wonderful orchestration provides, as well as its creation atmosphere; besides which, the pianist played with an almost metronomic rigidity which I’d have thought was unnecessary, given his proximity to, and familiarity with, the singers. The stage is set as modest student accommodation, which means that the lads, in their opening high jinks, can banter conversationally, but this pair yelled at one another without respite. It eventually became clear that Anthony Flaum, the Rodolfo, doesn’t have much of a voice unless he is singing fortissimo; and his CV and website indicate that his home is musical theatre rather than opera.