Opera Bohemia: Tosca
One Touch Theatre , Eden Court, Inverness. 29/07/2025
Opera Bohemia, Douglas Nairne, director, Alastair Digges, musical director, Monica McGhee, Tosca, Cameron Mitchell, Cavaradossi, Nicholas Morris, Scarpia, and singers and musicians of Opera Bohemia.
Opera Bohemia has been on the go for 13 years following its mission of bringing live opera to everyone. This is their first production of ‘Tosca’, Puccini’s masterpiece where, love, lust and cruelty breaks hearts and destroys lives .
The last time I saw ‘Tosca’ was as a movie theatre transmission from the New York Metropolitan Theatre. A spectacular production of course with amazing stage sets, full orchestra, and a massive budget. There could not have been a greater contrast with Opera Bohemia’s production in Inverness’ One Touch Theatre. What it lacked in budget, however, it made up for in talent, sheer enthusiasm and ingenuity.
It brought glorious soaring voices to the intimacy and great acoustics of the One Touch Theatre .
Puccini’s ‘Tosca’ was originally set in Rome in 1800 during the Napoleonic wars in times of political turmoil. In Douglas Nairne and Alistair Digges’ reimagining of ‘Tosca’ the setting is still Rome but the story of love, lust and power is played out in a Mafia dominated 1980’s setting.
The stage set, with the slide of a curtain, was able to suggest a church, a mafia head- quarters or a prison cell. Musical accompaniment was provided by a pianist, Andrew Brown, and a solitary violinist, Colm O’Braoin, two amazing musicians conveying the wide range of emotion in Puccini’s score. Their position on stage to the left of the action was a bonus .
The sacristan, played by Forbes Kennedy, was convincingly irreverent bringing out the humour in his role. Connor Smith played a suitably nasty Spoletta and Christopher Nairne brought reality to the part of Angelloti.
Monica McGhee was a stunning Floria Tosca. Her vocal ability is without doubt and she also conveyed the extremes of joy and sorrow through her acting. She held the audience enthralled, especially when she sang the famous aria, ‘I lived for life and love’ (‘Vizzi d’arte’) to a hushed auditorium in real despair and confusion.
I enjoyed Cameron Mitchell’s Cavaradossi, his tenor voice suited perfectly to
the part, and particularly the love duet with Tosca which was touching in its sincerity.
The high point for me, though, was Scarpia, the villain of the piece played by Nicholas Morris. He used his remarkable voice and his acting skills to convince his audience of his evil intentions. A pre-recorded chorus was cleverly used for the ‘Te Deum’ in the church scene and with the addition of Scarpia’s voice the feeling of evil overpowering good was tangible.
The tragic story is finally finished with this versatile set revealing an open window through which the broken-hearted Tosca throws herself to her death. This was the conclusion to a marvellous performance which kept the audience enthralled to the very end. As part of the company’s mission to make live opera more accessible, it was sung in English. I completely understand the reasoning but do miss the expressiveness of Italian.
Opera Bohemia have declared a mission to bring more live opera to communities across Scotland. I’m sure they were successful in that mission tonight. They have taken this production to small venues the length and breadth of the country and what they have achieved on a small budget in terms of musical excellence and accessibility to a wide audience whilst not allowing a drop in musical standards is nothing short of remarkable. They deserve to be applauded and encouraged both in their performances and in their educational programme of activities.
