Carmen review: Opera’s ‘gateway drug’ still gives a kick in lush and lavish staging

Carmen at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin until tonight

Paula Murrihy (Carmen) in Irish National Opera's Carmen at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Dublin. Photo by Ruth Medjber

Katy Hayes

Running to three hours and 30 minutes with two intervals, this Irish National Opera production of Georges Bizet’s Carmen is lush and lavish. It has a vast male and female chorus, a children’s chorus and a variety of dancers.

The busy stage throngs with nuns and street-sellers, and occasional pick-pockets. Costumes and set designs by Gary McCann are drenched in 1950s post-war glamour. The colour palette is rich with reds, greens, purples and yellows, all dappled in Spanish sunlight. A perspective trick in the Act 3 warehouse design adds a vastness to the already spacious stage.