Corrupt Cop Gets What’s Coming To him!

Last night in Adelaide’s Festival Theatre the South Australian Opera showed us once again the quality of justice through the age-old wisdom of the Italian masters. In Puccini’s Tosca we get tragedy on a majestic scale as a pair of innocent art lovers are caught up in the turmoil and tyranny of violent political change.

This turn of the century Opera has not been without its critics and has copped some derogatory reviews over the almost 120 years since it opened in Rome, but where it fails to convey the nuances of history and the original story on which it is based, it packs a powerful punch by distilling the essence of the drama, of every drama, into a well crafted and beautifully scored bolt of emotional lightening.

Puccini and his librettist spent four years refining this work and use every mechanism available to tell the heart-wrenching story. This, more than any other, is an opera where you don’t need to understand the language to connect with the tragedy. The music speaks, describes, foretells and translates for us throughout every scene. It whispers to the soul on a purely emotional level and the vocal performances, in the same way, relieve us of the burden of narrative.

Kate Ladner’s performance in the leading role brought a staggering gravitas to the impossible situation of women held hostage to the lust of powerful men. As she wrestled herself out of the groping embraces of the lecherous Scarpia, Chief of Police, on this occasion the image of America ensnared in the pussy-grabbing grip of Donald Trump was forefront in the mind. Her resistance to being done over by a privileged slime bag is what’s at the centre of this awful tale and it’s no secret now that she stabs him to death as she negotiates to save the life of her lover, the artist, Mario.

The portrayal of police brutality and corruption in a pre-unified Italy speaks volumes about the foundations on which our modern democracies are built. When Tosca cries out that she has spent her whole life dedicated to art and love only to be met with an utterly unjust fate at the hands of corrupt and evil men, it’s kind of like, strangely, we all know exactly how she feels. What does that say?

The magnificent tenor, Rossario La Spina does a splendid job holding out against a corrupt regime to defend his friend from persecution, and the evil baritone voice of the Police Chief is ably delivered by Mario Bellanova.

Cheap seats are available. Two nights to go.