The perfect balance between the individual drama and its landscape

In my review of the premiere, I referred to this production of Carmen as a "postcard of Andalusia". Indeed, Francesca Zambello’s 2006 take on Georges Bizet’s most famous opera is mainly concerned with keeping up with the tradition of opéra comique; that is, with presenting a suitably nineteenth-century picture of the south of Spain in which the gypsy ‘other’ takes centre stage. Ochre walls, a black horse, a donkey, hens, children playing Spanish traditional games, acrobats, flamenco dancers, the guardia civil and the brief appearance on stage of a procession presided by the Virgin Mary do the trick. This overblown setting, most of the time full of people and objects, makes up for a sensual show in which there are always new things to look at. Zambello knows when to leave Carmen and Don José alone, however, thus giving the characters the…