Scottish Opera’s new production of La Bohème stands as a beacon of light in the darkness. The company has successfully created a staging that adheres to stringent social distancing rules in front of a live audience and captures the spirit and colour of Puccini’s opera.Staged in the parking lot of Scottish Opera’s Glasgow workshops – a bold proposition given the vagaries of autumnal Scottish weather – Roxana Haines’s production weaves in and around the audience.
The artists’ garret is a shipping container at the side of the open-sided marquee, the centre of which turns into Café Momus in the second act.
Thus the spectators seated at bistro tables become part of the crowd witnessing the ruckus as Rhian Lois’s delightfully vixenish Musetta.