Soprano Louisa Tee tells Tim Hughes why La Bohème works so well in today’s Britain

IT is one of the best-loved operas of all time: the story of the poor but happy poet who falls in love with his even more hard-up neighbour, against the backdrop of Bohemian Paris

As well as being a great love story, Puccini’s tear-jerking tale of starving creative types is also deeply relevant today, which is why the innovative OperaUpclose has transposed La Bohème from the Latin Quarter to modern day London.

The characters are there, though this time Rodolfo is a struggling novelist and Mimi a skint immigrant cleaner from Eastern Europe. And, instead of Italian, it is sung in colloquial English.

That a play first performed in 1896 strikes such a chord today is testament to its power, says Mimi – the soprano Louisa Tee, who sings at the Oxford Playhouse tomorrow.

“The characters are the same and so is the core story – which is true to the original and the music,” she says. “It has just been updated. Opera can get away with a lot.”

I catch up with Louisa as she comes in out of the London rain. She is cold and jokes that she is starting to relate to her character, freezing in her garret.

“I know how Mimi must have felt,” she laughs. “It wouldn’t be nice to have TB in this weather.”

Despite its powerful emotional content and (spoiler alert) tragic finale, Louisa insists it has been a fun production to be involved in.

“There seems to be a large amount of comedy as we all stand around and things go pear-shaped,” she giggles.

“We all get taken on a bit of a IT is one of the best-loved operas of all time: the story of the poor but happy poet who falls in love with his even more hard-up neighbour, against the backdrop of Bohemian Paris

As well as being a great love story, Puccini’s tear-jerking tale of starving creative types is also deeply relevant today, which is why the innovative OperaUpclose has transposed La Bohème from the Latin Quarter to modern day London.

The characters are there, though this time Rodolfo is a struggling novelist and Mimi a skint immigrant cleaner from Eastern Europe. And, instead of Italian, it is sung in colloquial English.

That a play first performed in 1896 strikes such a chord today is testament to its power, says Mimi – the soprano Louisa Tee, who sings at the Oxford Playhouse tomorrow.

“The characters are the same and so is the core story – which is true to the original and the music,” she says. “It has just been updated. Opera can get away with a lot.”

I catch up with Louisa as she comes in out of the London rain. She is cold and jokes that she is starting to relate to her character, freezing in her garret.

“I know how Mimi must have felt,” she laughs. “It wouldn’t be nice to have TB in this weather.”

Despite its powerful emotional content and (spoiler alert) tragic finale, Louisa insists it has been a fun production to be involved in.

“There seems to be a large amount of comedy as we all stand around and things go pear-shaped,” she giggles.

“We all get taken on a bit of a

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Continued from Page 37

roller coaster ride and it’s good to have some light relief, to be able to laugh out loud, before you get your hanky out!”

Trained as an actress at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Louisa gained a scholarship to study singing at Trinity College of Music before joining the Opera Works course at the English National Opera. She was nominated for best female in the Off West End awards for her Violetta in La Traviata, which toured to the Oxford Playhouse, and has played The Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Queen of the Night in the Magic Flute, Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte, and has sung in the chorus of Opera Holland Park.

She shares OperaUpClose’s mission of making opera more accessible, which is why Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa’s libretto is given a distinct London accent.

“It is sung in colloquial English, so that people know what’s being said without the need for surtitles,” she says. “That makes the scenes with the boys much more funny and easy to relate to.”

But purists will not be left spluttering into their interval gin & tonics.

“Mimi and Rodolfo are still the same,” says Louisa.

“There are subtle changes but the same ideas.”

So, instead of a garret, the action takes place in a flat, where Rodolfo is typing on a laptop. Mimi comes to ask him, not to light her candle, but for a coin for her electricity meter, which has run out.

Both are plunged into darkness, which is how they first touch hands and fall in love.

She goes on: “The difference with Mimi is that she’s an immigrant and cleans the houses of wealthy people. She is poor, lonely and, although she has no accent, she’s probably Eastern European.

“It’s about fun 20-somethings living in London and is sung how they would talk. The language is very modern and people do laugh to hear words which they wouldn’t expect to hear from an opera singer.

“It works because it isn’t trying to be too clever, yet is true to the characters. For audiences who don’t usually go to the opera, it’s important for them to relate to what’s going on – and people who have never seen an opera before have come out thinking it’s a pretty amazing art form.”

She admits singing in English presents its own challenges. “Italian is easier because the sounds you make are perfect for opera singing. You have to work harder in English, spitting out consonants and pronouncing every word that comes from your mouth.

“I had to spend a long time preparing for the role, but it’s a joy to sing this music.”

Louisa, who made her film directing debut last year with The Magic Flute, is returning to opera after an extended break, having had a baby. Her daughter, Grace, now three months, will be backstage on the night. “She cries so loud she sets car alarms off,” laughs Louisa. “So I just hope she doesn’t try to join in!”

La Bohème is at the Oxford Playhouse on Friday, January 20.
Tickets £11.50-£22 from oxfordplayhouse.com