Vertiges

A moonstruck enterprise, from the maverick independent international producer Paulo Branco, in which, on the first night of a fraught production of The Marriage of Figaro, Serre, playing the count, shoots dead Bosc, playing Figaro, with the latter's own pearl-handled pistol. This is no more than the lippy servant deserves since throughout rehearsals he's tormented the conductor with hints of some old injustice. The conductor, meanwhile, has grown increasingly obsessed with the memory of his former mistress, La Gravida, and her perfect voice. One of the singers (Janda) loses her voice. 'You have to be a real diva to lose your voice,' the conductor's current mistress says, comfortingly. News arrives of La Gravida's retirement. The conductor swoons and expires. The Countess swears vengeance, and the Count, in the event, acts the gentleman. Vertigo, indeed.