Becoming Tosca
Have you ever seen a show and wondered about a character’s backstory and what brought them to the point at which the action starts? So have we. Hastings’ new opera theatre company present a prologue to Puccini’s famous opera, Tosca.Becoming Toscais an innovative and unique piece of drama, illuminating the earlier lives of the well-known characters and propelling the audience into their world. Every song and every word of dialogue in the Prologue brings us new insights into their backgrounds and choices.
Catholicism and the appeal of dictatorship are never far from the surface in Puccini’sTosca.Can revolution or religion change human nature? Can art be the agent of either or does it merely passively record the process? Becoming Toscarelocates the action to an unspecific Latin American setting in the second half of the 20thcentury; a nation founded on Jesuit colonisation, where religion now jostles with the politics of capitalism and self-interest. It is a society dominated by the struggle to exchange poverty for influence, still seeking solutions to all-pervasive inequalities and oppressions. Does the church love repentance or does it prefer punishment? Is brutality a necessary weapon to control a turbulent population? Even now, we do not have answers and until we do, these questions must continue to be examined.
An evening of revolution, romance and tragedy, combining newly composed music with a tango flavour and an abridged version of Puccini’s sumptuous score,will entertain you from the opening chords to the dramatic finale, challenging your preconception of both the original piece and the artform of opera itself.
Cast & Creatives
Tosca – Anna Sideris
Scarpia – Brendan Collins
Cavaradossi – Anthony Flaum
Spoletta – Jonathan Cooke
Angelotti – Harry Gentry
Original Director, Script & Translation – Christopher Cowell
Designer – Viva Halton Wright
Composer – Frank Moon
Note – Adult language, smoking. Age guidance – 12+.
