Puccini’s La Bohème is the opera in which the hero and heroine, Rodolfo and Mimì, share their first intimate moments on the floor of a dark garret, supposedly looking for Mimì’s key (Rodolfo has already pocketed it), her candle having gone out.
The problem of playing this scene at Opera Holland Park, where the stage is flooded with daylight until the interval, is neatly obviated in Natascha Metherell’s production (designer Madeleine Boyd, lighting Charlie Morgan Jones), by setting the action on an artificially lit film set.
