Tragic opera Tosca comes to the stage

Puccini’s tragic opera Tosca to the town on Thursday March 31 and is set against the dramatic landscape of Rome and the Napoleonic Wars.

Directed as a Gothic Victorian horror story, it is based on a play by Victorien Sardou, it was once described as a “shabby little shocker.”

It tells of Floria Tosca’s true love for artist Mario Cavaradossi. Tosca is forced to enter into a deal with the Chief of Police Baron Scarpia, in order to save her lover from execution.

Scarpia’s price is Tosca’s seduction, but she cannot go through with it, and in desperation she stabs Scarpia to death. Cavaradossi is executed and, realising all is lost, Tosca throws herself from the battlements to her death.

The show features local children from Northampton Musical Theatre Company, including a shepherd boy’s solo.

It starts at 7.30pm. Tickets – priced from £18 to £35* – can be booked by calling 01604 624811 or visit www.royalandderngate.co.uk.