Opera has an obsession with specific locations but they’re rarely the main attraction for audiences today. We aren’t moved by Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor because it’s set in Scotland or by Mozart’s Don Giovanni because it’s set in Seville. What matters is the dramatic framework, the emotional trajectory.
That’s one reason why directors so often opt for relocation. Puccini set his La Bohème (premiered in Turin in 1896) in Paris in 1830 but few productions now feel constrained by the composer’s choices. It’s the relationships between the characters that count. For his new production of the opera, Mark Ravenhill has a recognisably contemporary London as his backdrop and it’s certainly viable.
