★★★★☆
Feeling trapped in a dinner party from hell isn’t an unusual phenomenon. Rarely, though, do even the most unendurable suppers of the bourgeoisie escalate into a spookily enforced sleepover, double-suicide, the crazed slaughter of livestock, women squeaking in the dog-whistle register and a general impression that the end of the world is nigh.
That, however, sums up the plot and atmosphere of Thomas Adès’s third and latest opera. After an acclaimed premiere in Salzburg last summer it comes to the Royal Opera, again with the composer conducting and the same cast.
It’s based on Luis Buñuel’s celebrated satirical film, although how faithfully is a debatable matter. If you can remember surreal Spanish movies that you watched in the 1960s, you probably weren’t really there,