Simon Ward reviews La Bohème at the Hoxton Hall

Founded in 2011, Regents Opera is committed to scaled-down opera productions – Puccini’s evergreen favourite La Bohème is a perfect fit. As is Hoxton Hall as a venue – a beautifully preserved late nineteenth century music hall, it could well have hosted a near-contemporary production of this 1895 opera. It is also perfect in its intimacy – director Sasha Regan and musical director Ben Woodward have pared the work down to its essentials, and that has the effect of bringing the beauties of the piece more clearly into focus. On an almost bare set, the clarity and lyricism of an excellent cast shine through. The musicians, too, deserve credit – although a small ensemble, they fill the room and Puccini’s exquisite music is perfectly rendered. Inevitably, some of the Christmassy magic is lost – there is no toyshop or children’s parade – but the heart of the work is here.

As a side note, there is an inevitable challenge involved in putting on La Bohème in summer, and especially in the middle of a heatwave. As the audience swelters and the characters endlessly complain about the bitter cold, the cognitive dissonance increases. It is a tribute to the power of the production that we do, in the end, believe that Mimi’s hand is freezing cold (Che gelida manina). And the deployment of some fake snow can go along way.

And the themes are rendered with great power – I have rarely been so moved by Mimi (Christine Buras) and Rodolfo’s (Davide Basso) doomed love, especially in their duet Dunque: è proprio finita! Nor have I been so struck by the characters’ abject poverty. There does seem to be a difference in kind, though, between the pennilessness of the men and the women. The men are, to some extent, playing at being poor as they dedicate their lives to their art rather than devoting themselves to the grubby business of making money. Mimi and even, in her own way, Musetta (Leila Alexander), are trapped in a more insidious world where their only choice is between dependence on a wealthy patron or utter penury.

Marcello (Sam Pantcheff) and Musetta’s on-off love affair is here clearly contrasted with the all-consuming passion between Mimi and Rodolfo, especially, of course in their quartet (Addio dolce svegliare alla mattina!) – but we are forcefully struck by Mimi’s quiet but determined insistence that Marcello and Mussetta must cherish the bond they have. Her words have all the more power as we know how close she is to death.

Comic relief and emotional support are ably provided by friends Colline (Geoff Clapham) and Schaunard (Ashley Mercer) and by Andrew Tinkler in the double role of landlord Benoit and Musetta’s patron Alcindoro. I particularly admired Colline’s farewell to his well-worn overcoat before it goes to the pawnbrokers (Vecchia zimarra) to buy Mimi’s medicine.

Sasha Regan brilliantly re-imagined Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore; here she has proven she can re-invigorate a classic opera by distilling its essence.

Following this one-off London performance, the company are embarking on a tour of French chateaux.