Richard Bratby

A night at the circus

Plus: a must-see new production of Billy Budd from Opera North, with a spine-tingling chorus and a gripping production

issue 29 October 2016

  • The Nose

    Royal Opera House, in rep until 9 November

  • Billy Budd

    Opera North, touring until 3 December

The Royal Opera’s latest production is Shostakovich’s The Nose and to paraphrase Mark Steyn, whatever else can be said about it, you certainly get a lot of noses for your money. Noses are tossed from character to character, noses kneel in prayer and noses stroll casually past in the background.

GIF Image

Disagree with half of it, enjoy reading all of it

TRY 3 MONTHS FOR $5
Our magazine articles are for subscribers only. Start your 3-month trial today for just $5 and subscribe to more than one view

Read next

Trending

Douglas Murray

The unbearable smugness of American journalists

From the magazine
Polls occasionally appear which reveal the extent to which people trust – or rather don’t trust – journalists. In one last year, something called the Edelman Trust Barometer found that just 31 per cent of the British public said they trust the media, a fall of 6 per cent in a year. This puts the

More on opera

Also by Richard Bratby

Latest

Comments

Join the debate for just £1 a month

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.

Already a subscriber? Log in