| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 23-Jun-2012 The London Coliseum | Dark deeds on the high seas: Billy Budd at ENO |
 For a taut drama about the relationships between men thrown together in an enclosed space, it's hard to imagine a better setting than the claustrophobic environment of a warship in Nelson's navy. Sailors worked in atrocious conditions for little pay in a life that alternated between the excitement and mortal danger of battle and long periods of intense boredom, with an ensuing myriad of petty squabbles and hatreds. Herman Melville's unfinished novella Billy Budd overlays this with a tale of crime and judgement.
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| 19-Sep-2011 The London Coliseum | Draining but rewarding - Weinberg's The Passenger at ENO |
 The glittering white of a luxury cruise liner above, the darkened hell of the concentration camp below. Johan Engels' set for Weinberg's The Passenger, first seen at the Bregenz festival in 2010 and now at the ENO in London, is one of the most striking and effective opera sets I've ever seen, both framing the action and adding colour. Many details add emotional resonance: the pervasive railway tracks, or the follow spotlights operated by camp guards on watchtowers.
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