Inmates of Europe

In its first hour or so, Jan Bosse’s new production of Il viaggio a Reims raised numerous questions: who were all these people? What were they all doing in a hospital ward? Why are back projections still a thing? Instead of offering answers, Mr Bosse took a more intriguing path; midway through the opera, he quietly dispensed with any pretence of a unifying thread, and concentrated his energies on crafting individual scenes of elusive brilliance. Freed from the burden of a larger concept, the entire production began to shimmer like the dazzlingly artificial fabrics worn by most of the characters. If it never quite suggested a wholly coherent reading, it was also, in the end, very hard not to enjoy.

Rossini wrote Il viaggio to celebrate the coronation of Charles X of France, and was concerned more with creating a vocal showcase than a work…