Boheme

This DVD, filmed during last year’s festival, is a worthy tribute to Maestro Puccini and the Old Theatre, which has served so well during more than forty years. The stage is wide and occasionally one feels that it is at odds with, at least, the setting of the first and last act of La Bohème, which takes place in a small attic in Paris. However, set designer Jean-Michel Folon’s inventive solutions reduce the problems and from the outset the viewer is engrossed by the performance. All through the four acts the action takes place on a slightly raised ‘stage-within-the-stage’ in the shape of an artist’s palette. In the second act, at Café Momus, the brightly colored table-cloths become spectacular splashes of paint. A large screen, covering the greater part of the background, is used entertainingly and informatively to underline aspects of the performance. We are shown the roofs of the surrounding houses, as seen from the attic and in the opening scene of act one, where Rodolfo is writing a poem and Marcello is painting – obviously he was a fore-runner to Mark Rothko – and on the screen well-known and lesser known paintings march past. It is certainly a stimulating production – one to return to and enjoy.