Prologue opera presents ‘Becoming Tosca’

Becoming Tosca is a reimagining of Puccini’s classic opera set …..’Against the backdrop of a barrio in an unspecified South American city in the mid 20^th century where a military junta battles the burgeoning resistance’…

The story centres around 3 characters : Floria Tosca (played by Anna sederis) A celebrated singer Tosca begins her career in the church choir before being sent to a conservatoire to study opera after her singing supposedly made a tear fall from the eyes of a Madonna statue.  

Artist Mario (Played by Antony Flaum) Mario goes to America in search of fame and fortune as a painter but becomes disillusioned and returns home to get back to his roots, he then starts to get involved with countries the developing socialist movement  – Partly inspired by his young assistant Angelotti (Played by Harry Gentry) (Aged just 16! Harry deserves a special mention, he gave an outstanding performance and will definitely be a name to look out for in the future.)

When Mario has a chance encounter with Tosca in a market place the two of them embark on passionate affair, but alas he is not the only one who falls for her charms…. Enter Vielio Scarpia, chief of police, (aka the villain of the story)  Having been rejected from the priest hood for being overzealous Scarpia now throws his energy into mercilessly rounding up enemies of the state, (Assisted by his Henchman Spoletta played by Jonathan Cooke) when Scarpia decides he wants Tosca for himself then nothing and nobody will stand in his way…

Bendan collins was the absolute perfect fit for the role of Scarpia with a rich penetrating baritone voice and the stage presence of an evil Tom Jones.

Musically, the show featured just two instruments—a piano and clarinet—which, despite being minimal seemed to work well and compliment the mood of the piece. Yet somehow or other despite the talent and enthusiasm of the cast I’m afraid this show didn’t quite come together for me, From a musical perspective it felt laboured, yes the songs did the job in terms of driving the plot forward but many of them felt like they went on verse or so longer than they really needed to and beyond the opening epic (I remember Sundays) they were mostly quite forgettable.

The costume was on point for the most part however Leading lady Anna Sideris’s stage outfits really did not fit the profile of a dramatic heroine: At  best she looked dowdy at worst just down right odd, the phrase ‘lady Godiva in a charity shop’ sprang to mind on more than one occasion which was really a shame because shes a talented singer and it let down what would otherwise have been a solid performance

The set was very minimal which is fine for a production in a small space like the Arcola,  but then every piece that’s used needs to be carefully chosen fit with the setting your trying to create and if that is supposed to be mid century Latin America then plonking a brand new Ikea office chair in the middle of it does spoil the mood somewhat!

On a more positive note the lighting by James Deane was excellent, creating a moody, and at times claustrophobic atmosphere that suited the tension of the piece.

In summary, while Becoming Tosca is not without its good points it ultimately fell a bit flat. Although I appreciated the efforts of the cast and crew overall I  would say it’s probably not worth a special trip unless you know someone who’s involved. https://www.arcolatheatre.com/whats-on/becoming-tosca/