Tosca in the Teatro Real

Yesterday I went to see a production of Puccini's Tosca at the Teatro Real. The theatre itself is quite spectacular inside though the rest of the internal installations are more modern and ostentatious. From the cafetería on the top floor there is a view across to the royal palace. Both buildings are perfectly aligned such that if you draw an imaginary line running from the two sides of the opera house, the lines would touch the sides of the Royal Palace. The sheer beauty of it, especially as the sun sets on the palace and lights up the city lights behind it. The view is also spectacular from the street level however from this height you get a real sense of the priviliged position from which royals and dignataries have looked out onto this central position in Madrid.

The opera itself turned out to be a first class production with marvellous scenery though from our position at the highest gallery it was not possible to see the full details of the secondary set towards the back of the stage on which from a better position one could see the truly dramatic scenes of torture of Mario Cavaradossi in all their gore. I had never previously scene Tosca and was thrilled at the portrayal of the basest of traits so prevalent in human nature.

Today I start the Summer holidays. I am still not sure where I will be going however one option would be to spend a few days in Ronda.