An opera production designed to provoke
SIR – Diana Crook (Letters, May 4) describes a screening of Carmen at the Royal Opera House, in which Carmen appeared in a gorilla suit.
When, at the screening of this production in Streatham, half the audience left during the interval, I assumed that it was a criticism of the director lacking the artistic integrity to have Carmen perform in the whole (clearly essential) suit throughout, rather than removing the rubber animal’s head when she started to sing.
Tim Barnsley
London SW16
SIR – I once saw a production of Salome in which John the Baptist indicated that he was singing from the confines of his dungeon by wearing a paper bag over his head. Philip Tucker
Brighton, East Sussex